Sometimes we must lose ourselves to find ourselves – Sonny Long
Finding yourself is subjective to many, but I believe that learning more about yourself is a crucial step. Whether it’s something big or small, discovering new emotions and experiences help you gain knowledge. I believe that the three crucial things to finding yourself are acceptance, individuality, and experience.
Acceptance
No one is going to rescue you from yourself – your inner demons, your lack of confidence, your dissatisfaction with yourself and your life – Jenni Young
Siddhartha went through many journeys, all with the same end goal: finding himself. Throughout the story he tried to follow many different philosophers and their ideals, yet he still did not find what he was truly looking for. He went through times of struggle and disillusion, until he finally recognized his state of despair and imperfection. Following that was when he finally accepted all he was capable of, awakening into a new version of.. “Siddhartha, self willed, individualistic” (Hesse 73).
Siddhartha was an example of how experiencing struggles in life is crucial development. These struggles teach you how to swim in the deep trenches of life. Acceptance of these obstacles helps you find yourself through self awareness. When accepting these obstacles you are also accepting your subconscious thoughts, feelings, and self.
Individuality
Barbara Kruger is an advocate for a flexible art community. Supreme, a high end brand whose art closely resembled Barbara’s work, ironically sued a small brand for infringement. Barbara Kruger was open to interpretation of her art and at one point supported the brand Supreme instead of accusing them for copying her artwork and style.
Don’t spend all of your time trying to find yourself. Spend time creating yourself into a person that you’ll be proud of – Sonya Parker
The message Barbara Kruger displays is that you should create whatever art makes you happy, and that in the art community, people take inspiration from each other. This ties into my essential question of: how do you find and get to know yourself? We take inspiration from certain philosophies in our lives and follow that, while still creating our own path in life. Our ideals don’t necessarily have to fit into a category, but instead can incorporate many different rules and philosophies. Individuality through creating your own way of living can help guide and structure your life.
Experience
Give your attention to the experience of seeing rather than to the object seen and you will find yourself everywhere. – Rupert Spira
Similar to my participation in play day, I realized that the way to learn is through experience. I was involved in activities such as drawing and ping-pong. Not only did this day help build my social skills through interacting with others, I also got to learn more about myself through reflecting upon these actions. Experience is crucial to learning more about yourself and how you conquer and deal with struggles in life. Experiencing certain emotions can help you reach a point of clarity in your life, and with time you slowly begin to discover yourself.
Unlocking your true potential and self helps you imbue a deeper purpose in life, and can be done through the steps of acceptance, individuality, and experience. Embrace your struggles. Create your own path. Live your life to the fullest.
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