"Know thyself." ~ Socrates

While writing correspondence this morning to a friend and business associate, my propensity to tangent led me to a soul-baring reflection of what I perceived as my skills and my non-skills. As I elaborated, it came to me that this might be a pretty good exercise for everyone, so to-wit:

Take that proverbial legal pad and draw a line down the center. List what your Best Attributes are and what your Worst Attributes are. You’re the only one seeing this, so be brutally honest with yourself. Then look at it and think about it.

Curiously, as my list fleshed out, I started to see some inconsistencies in my self reflections. How can I be imaginative yet obtuse? Fearless but change-resistant? I can see how Intense/Tenacious and Hard Working could live happily together, how Meticulous could suffer Nit-Picky’s presence, how Driven could cohabitate with Stubborn but some of the others? Sheesh!

And herein lies the lesson – by recognizing what our Strengths and Weaknesses are, we learn to live (I just hit the o next to the i and typed “love” instead of “live”– curious, huh?) with ourselves. We learn to live (love) with ourselves. It bears repeating. Part of success in life I think comes when we’re comfortable in our own skins, and embracing what’s best/not so best about ourselves is part of it. Looking at my list, it prompted me to admit that some things weren’t so pretty - I can turn people off by appearing demanding/here comes the excuse: don’t they see that it’s my drive arising out of my need to be recognized shining through? No, most people don’t see inside you, they’re not mind-readers! So you have to be a little more gentle towards the world – that’s not so big a price to pay.

ALL my attributes make me who I am – the good and the bad, but being self-aware is what makes all of it work together. Somehow, someway it gets me through the day and allows me to do what makes me happy. Happy? Is Happy a skill? I think so!
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