Introspection. Knowing thyself.

Introspection is written with "I" as in "Interpersonal" and as in "Isaac." So funny! I promise this was not premeditated.
I firmly believe that knowing oneself is the best tool to be successful in life. Insert cheap motivational talk here - No, not really. Talking out of joke, when the Greeks engraved the old aphorism of "Know Thyself" in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, they were giving humanity one of the few absolute truths there are. How often do we look into our souls? Before you continue, I should warn you! The following lines are most likely permeated with the kind of discourse that keeps you away from Paulo Cohelo.
Right, every series of thoughts I take the time to write here are triggered by some event. I feel compelled to talk about it so that the reader gets the bigger picture. As part of my mandatory community service, I need to attend lectures about environmental issues in Costa Rica so that we can go to communities affected by, let's say, water pollution, lack of water, open pit mining, among others. We address the issue in a room first, and then we go to the communities to talk about the problem so that the locals and the students can come up with a solution through dialogue. Well, today's lecture was about being honest with ourselves before we intend to go and talk to others. How convenient: an intrapersonal and interpersonal combo. The motivator used a system allegedly implemented in many countries of Western Europe called "The systemic constellation" (google it for further information.) As much as I would like to elaborate on that somewhat crazy method, I'm just going to say that it works using other people as elements in your life and locate them in physical places to give you an idea of how they are positioned in your brain. It sounds metaphysical and bananas, but the purpose behind it is the same as in meditation, as in reflection: Introspection.
As in many of the most fundamental areas of our lives, we know that the method is as simple as it sounds. Yet I have not met many people who take the time to detached from others and examine their lives. Someone who knows himself or herself well enough to see into others' lives can easily come and diagnose their problems. I have done it. I keep doing it, but whenever I talk about this, people most likely freak out. No, I don't read auras. Body language? Well, yeah, but the body and the mind are interconnected and often give away the other. I'm striving to get out of the abstraction here. Let's say I have located my strengths and weaknesses. I know my limits and live up to it. I'm sincere with myself and try to see the real "me" and not the ideal "me" - refer to Freud for the ideal self. Then, since I know myself truthfully, I can address people's issues from my own perspective. The conclusions I draw based on my observations are, in most of the cases, accurate. How do I do it? I create a web of possibilities according to my own insights and experiences. Well, "You can't know yourself that well" someone could argue. I don't want to brag about this, but I do know myself. I take every opportunity that life gives me to evaluate and triangulate my situation, as if I was my own research project. I often ask myself how do I truly feel about certain situation after it happens, what I could have done to feel better, what is the true reason behind my feelings, and so on -- the reasons might be shallow for I'm still a human, but if they are in fact the feelings behind it, I accept them and either embrace or work on them. Then, when I come to call my positive qualities, my demons, my dreams, and my fears by their real name, I can see them into others. It's like a challenge, my own personal puzzle that I can try to solve at any time of the day. It's interesting, rewarding, and more importantly, USEFUL!
Know oneself so that you can approach to others more effectively. I swear that if I had planned this post to be interrelated with my previous entry, it wouldn't have quite worked the way it ended up being. But, yeah! How can I build rapport in a community if I am struggling inside? Do people notice? How do they react to this?
There is not a infallible way to get to know oneself. Like every other form of negotiation process, internal dialogue consumes time and energy. You'll be never able to tell when you're there, but the endless possibilities that life gives you when you know yourself will hint that you're reaching your goal of self awareness! If I made you think about introspection for a minute, I might have accomplished my mission here (assuming that I had one.) At the end, figuring oneself out is a task that only the interested person can do.
It's just a thought, maybe a wish, that all my friends get to know themselves to see how far they make in life.