The Importance Of Knowing Yourself
Alexander the Great said that “Knowing oneself is the most difficult task because it directly puts our rationality at stake, but also our fears and passions . If you get to know yourself thoroughly, you will understand others and the reality that surrounds you ” .
Self-knowledge and interpersonal intelligence
This Macedonian king was right because through self-knowledge we learn to function effectively in life and to face our day-to-day in an optimal way. Knowing really how we are, what we feel or what goals we want to achieve are capacities that are associated with interpersonal intelligence.
Having interpersonal intelligence means understanding who we are, knowing how to identify our emotions and act accordingly. Skills that allow us to regulate our behavior, solve problems effectively, and make decisions. With self-knowledge we learn to identify our capabilities, but also our limitations. This helps us to plan goals realistically to avoid future frustrations. People endowed with interpersonal intelligence know how to control their emotions and adapt them to the circumstances.
Enhance interpersonal intelligence
Can you work on interpersonal intelligence? If you are interested in growing internally and learning more about yourself, you can perform a series of exercises that will help enhance this intelligence.
• Control your emotions: it is a skill that you have to learn to develop. Controlling does not mean not feeling, but knowing how to act in the face of that emotion or feeling. Learn to identify negative emotions to transform them into positive ones. An example: you feel angry. Analyze the reason that makes you be like this and try to redirect it. A very effective trick, laugh at some trifle, this resource will help you transform negative emotions into positive ones.
• Travel within yourself. Erich Fromm said that “ self-knowledge begins with self-acceptance. Accept yourself and you will get to know yourself better ”. Make a list of your strengths and another of your weaknesses. Ask someone close to you to do the same to find out what image they have of you. Compare both lists and try to improve what you don’t like.
• Take action . Observe how your emotions influence your moods and find a way to change the negatives into positives. Write down the behaviors that made you feel bad and think about how you could fix it. For example: when you feel sad, what can you do to change that emotion? Talk to a friend. Put it into practice.
• Accept yourself as you are : Jean-Jacques Rousseau used to say that ” no one can be happy if he does not appreciate himself .” Analyze what your capabilities and limitations are. Set short and medium term goals based on them. This will boost your self-esteem and teach you to accept yourself for who you are.
• Understand yourself : write down for a while how you feel throughout the day. When you get up, at mid-morning, at noon, in the afternoon and before going to bed. Try to find out what is causing those emotions.
Follow these simple guidelines and you will see how, through self-knowledge, you improve relationships with yourself and with others. Because as Jorge Bucay says “ only by knowing who we are can we begin to be better for ourselves and for others ”.
