The importance of self-awareness Ησημασία της αυτογνωσίας
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At a time of crisis in our lives, there is a need for self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the lonely journey of each of us to get to know ourselves better than roles, masks, labels that others have or have we stuck to ourselves, and have often become one with them.
This journey, which can begin at any age or phase of our life (it is never too late) begins with observation. I essentially make myself an observer of myself. I recognize what I like and what is not, what are my behaviours and reactions in different situations, what are they wanting?
But what is the purpose of this trip, in general?
Many argue that the quality of my relationships with those around me mirrors the quality of the relationship I have with myself. Therefore, one of the purposes and benefits of this journey, beyond the basic – of improving my relationship with myself – is to improve my relationships with the people around me. At the same time, of course, the improved relationship with myself leads to better health, quality life, success with substance and inner satisfaction.
” I’m not the one I want to be. I’m not the one I should be. I’m not the one my mom and the others around me would like to be. I’m not even the one I was. I am who I am, “ writes the writer and psychotherapist Jorge Bukai and is something that would be good to remind everyone every day of ourselves. All of our ribbons, on the other hand, start from the moment we try to be something we are not.
However, to get what I want, to satisfy my “will,” my dreams, my desires and my needs, I must first secure a condition. This is to know that I deserve all of the above. So I recognize my self-worth.
How can I understand my self-esteem?
We ourselves define how high we will put our value, by realizing that we are unique, so invaluable. By accepting ourselves, we mobilize others to accept us. We take what we give, so by giving love to ourselves, we also get love from around us.
One of the first steps in self-acceptance is to stop criticism and start evaluating (for example at the end of the day, we take stock, wonder if what we have done today is beneficial for us and others and if not we decide if we want to repeat them).
We usually focus on our most negative behaviours in order to judge ourselves, we consider that these behaviours are we and inevitably we are going to self-criticism paths. But our behaviours do not reflect 100% what we are, our real self. Our behaviour is something that we can choose and of course change.
We come to life by rejecting with abomination the characteristics of others or even ours, which we regard as elusive, threatening or useless. But if we were to think a bit, we would understand how difficult it would be to live without what we often despise (Jorge Bukai).
So, by reducing the criticism we exercise in ourselves, we also reduce the criticism we receive from around us. We accept that in every moment, in every situation, we do the best we can, having the right to make mistakes.
Another thing that we should be careful about is when we base our value on external factors. This is a “fake” acceptance of ourselves and extremely dangerous for us. Imagine how easy it is to overturn our idea of ourselves and our perception of its value when it is based on external factors.
For example, I am successful, I have a job with very high earnings, a luxury home, etc. and as long as I get other material goods, so does my self-worth. And if all this is lost? And we can all imagine, especially at this time, what’s going on in the long-term, how things change from one moment to the next.
So when I base my value on external factors exclusively, I am in danger of losing it. That is why we realize our value by looking inward, towards ourselves. When we realize who we are, beyond titles and labels as we said above, we realize our value, and that’s not going to happen to us.
Self-confidence – Self-esteem – Self-esteem – Self-esteem
Self-confidence is the kind of energy that comes from within us and “makes things happen”. Self-confidence offers self-esteem. Self-esteem is something that grows. To have self-esteem you must feel that you deserve it. When you become yourself, as it really is, then you have taken a great step to feel great. It is an experience in which you experience self-worth as we have said above.
Self-esteem is nothing more than what you are. It’s not something you develop, such as self-esteem or something you gain, such as self-esteem. Self-worth somehow has already been given to you. It’s exactly what you are. All you have to do is to recognize it to yourself.
Consider the following example: Imagine that you have a diamond ring and that you wear it all the time, believing the diamond is not true. One day you go to a jeweller to make the diamond ring in the ring and the jeweller tells you it’s a perfect diamond.
And you who believed that you were wearing a fake diamond eventually discovered that it was an invaluable gem. You had it in your hand all the time, but you did not recognize its value. Well, you are also diamonds. You are an excellent and precious as the diamond. The only problem is that you do not recognize it.
As I said above, a way to satisfy my wants, my dreams, my desires and my needs is first to recognize that I deserve it. On the contrary, a way to recognize our self-worth is to do what we really want to do in our lives. Our self-esteem and our self-worth, we acquire and complete our dreams.
When we begin to realize our dreams, self-esteem will no longer be a problem. We will stop the effort we made to impress others and start to be impressed by ourselves. This is love for ourselves. And when you love yourself, something great happens. You feel safe. Then you will find everything in you that you seek to find somewhere else. That’s you. And the more love and devotion you give to yourself, the more powerful your relationship becomes.
From this, one understands how our interpersonal relationships are improving. Let’s say the erotic since the choice of partner is no longer to fill our own shortcomings and gaps. Many times we look for others to look at us to see ourselves. We all need the affirmation of others, but if the price is to abandon ourselves, not just that is too big, but, moreover, this pursuit ends in something without substance, incoherent, with loose foundations.
Self-awareness is a long-standing process that requires patience and persistence. This is a very painful process, however necessary for our liberation. It is the means to liberate us from the bonds of the past and the key that opens us the road to happiness. Through our self-awareness, we are able to get to know and love ourselves and others, to get respect for both ourselves and the people around us. Is it time to pull out our armour and remove the iron mask? Is it time for us to know who we really are and who are those around us? Perhaps this is how we find ourselves a step closer to our personal happiness and the purpose of our lives!
Suggested Bibliography:
- Boukai Ch. (2006), Tell a Story, Athens, Opera Publications
- Psychology of Daily Life (2006), Athens, Lector Publications
Anastasios Theodora – “Health Aid ” Source: happylifeschool.com (we read it at https://sciencearchives.wordpress.com/ )
The Sino-Vietnamese War of 1799 – I
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The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was the last imperial dynasty of China. It was officially founded in 1636 in what is now Northeast China,. The dynasty had been successful in most respects and was wealthy, relatively stable and feeling secure within the confines of the Middle Kingdom and beyond.
On 08 August 1775, there was an impressive Annular Solar Eclipse, the path of which was easily seen in Southern China, Hong Kong and Macau, then continued across Vietnam on its way to the eastern regions of the Bay of Bengal. Probably the most striking feature was its relatively long duration, estimated to be more than 4 mins.
If we look towards 1779, four years later, there were momentous events which are some of the most remarkable in military history. Moreover, what happened is sometimes compared to the Tet offensive in the Viet Nam War of the 1960s and early 1970s. While they are not by any means…
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Fedor Ivanovich Zakharov (1882 – 1968, Russian)
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Moscow versus St. Petersburg in Anna Karenin;; Moskou versus Sint Petersburg in Anna Karenin
Quotevia Moskou versus Sint Petersburg in Anna Karenina
According to Orlando Figes in Natasha’s Dance, it was so for the revolution that Saint Petersburg was a city to work in and Moscow a city to live in. Peter the Great founded the famous window to the West, and the western influence was clearly felt. But it was also a formal city, with an unfavourable climate. Although it was a new city, Saint Petersburg soon became the subject of legends and ghost stories, such as De Bronzen Ruiter (Pushkin) and De Petersburg’s Verhalen (Gogol).
Moscow was much more provincial and had more eastern influences. The Muscovites were further removed from the Tsar and consequently more anarchist than the inhabitants of St. Petersburg. They did not give themselves over to Napoleon in 1812; they left the city empty and burnt down for Napoleon, who was forced to turn around soon because his troops would not survive the harsh Russian winter in an uninhabited and unstressed city. When the Muscovites returned, they rebuilt their city as ants ( War and Peace ). In Russian style, with wooden houses and ornaments.
Anna Karenina is largely based on three different locations: Moscow, St. Petersburg and the countryside. For now, I focus on the first two, and I try to find out to what extent Tolstoy used the cities to emphasize the character of his protagonists.
Anna
Although Anna’s childhood remains rather mysterious, we may assume that she is originally from Moscow, just like her brother Oblonski. When we get to know her she is married to a respected politician from St. Petersburg and she moves in the highest circles there. She comes to Moscow to save her brother’s marriage. The local beauties are rather provincial against her beautiful appearance and modern clothing. It soon becomes clear that her life is not as perfect as it seems, and in Moscow, she realizes that she hates her life in Petersburg: it seems so distant and cold compared to the warmth she feels in Moscow.
Wronski
It is not surprising then that she falls madly in love with Wronski: just like Anna he probably originates from Moscow, and now he lives in St. Petersburg, where he makes a brilliant career as an officer. When he is in Moscow, he also feels the difference between the cities: in Moscow, the girls are sweet and innocent, and social life in Moscow is much warmer. He gets carried away and although he lived in a man’s world in St. Petersburg, he is now looking for the company of ladies. He falls in love with Kitty first, but when he meets Anna, who is so completely different in Moscow, he is lost.
Oblonski and Karenin
Oblonski and Karenin are opposing characters from Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively. Oblonski is a real bon-vivant, exuberant, does not work too hard and loves everything that makes life fun. Karenin works very hard lives according to religious rules and does not go public any more than at least is expected of him. Although Oblonski is a real Muscovite, he retains its radiant character as in St. Petersburg, Karenin is much less at ease in Moscow. Oblonski has friends everywhere, but Karenin’s “best friends” are his secretary and his doctor.
Lewin and Kitty
Tolstoy emphasizes that both Lewin and Kitty come from old, noble Moscow families. And although Lewin prefers his estate, he is strongly connected to Moscow. All important events in the lives of Lewin and Kitty take place in Moscow: their skating, both marriage requests, their wedding in the beautifully lit church, and the birth of their first son.
However, Moscow is Saint Petersburg
And so in Anna Karenina, we get the feeling that real life is happening in Moscow, and that life in St. Petersburg is unreal. If Anna had stayed in Moscow, instead of marrying a Petersburg politician, she might have been happy.
“She undressed and entered the bedroom, but the liveliness, which, when she was in Moscow, so unstoppable in her smile and in her eyes sprang up, was now gone. It even seemed as if the fire had been extinguished in her or hidden deep inside her. “
© Elisabeth van der Meer
Photos: old illustrations from Anna Karenina
Books: Anna Karenina (Tolstoy, translated by Wils Huisman) and Natasha’s Dance (Orlando Figes)
Rediscovering Lost Values at the Border
“The thing that we need in the world today is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and to be opposed to wrong, wherever it is. A group of people who have come to see that some things are wrong, whether they’re never caught up with. And some things are right, whether nobody sees you doing them or not.”
~ The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his sermon Rediscovering Lost Values, Detroit’s Second Baptist Church (28 February 1954)
This week in the U.S., the groundswell of men and women standing up for right, for decency, reached a tipping point that forced a reversal on a grotesquely cruel and inhumane ‘zero tolerance’ policy concerning individuals fleeing violence and crossing the borders into the U.S.
It’s a groundswell that’s been building for weeks; that met with a macho defense of what, to people…
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The Dark Night Of The Soul
StandardI just have to back to me, my inner, when I feel somehow depressive! No wonder when I look back at my own life in which had a very strange and lonely childhood (surely among some others), though, with the help of my brother I found, slowly but surely, staying on my own feet again. and afterwards, when I was hounded out of my homeland, leaving all I had built up for the future and begin from the zero, it’s enough to get depression. But anyway, thank goodness, I’d find the way out of being a loser when I knew that I’m not the winner! As I said; my brother had helped me much and I must also thank Dr Jung for his”;
“here is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.~ Carl Gustav Jung”
by Gregg Prescott, M.S.
Founder, Webmaster, & Editor, In5D.com
At some point in your life, you will experience the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ where it seems that everything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong. What many people fail to realize is that this is a true blessing.
The ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘ occurs when your life appears to hit rock bottom. You may experience a plethora of ‘bad breaks’ in your personal life, financially, mentally and/or physically.
What typically happens during the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ is that we get so pounded by all of these experiences that we end up reflecting on “Why did this happen to me?”
When The Cleansing Begins
At first, you may feel hatred towards those who contributed to your ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘. You might question the Creator and feel as though your spirit guides and guardian angels have failed you. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Eventually, you realize that you needed to experience everything that you went through in order to grow spiritually.
In time, you will end up surrendering yourself and your ego to whatever the Universe has in store for you as if it is all now in the “Creator’s hands”. This is where the cleansing begins.
There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.~ Carl Gustav Jung
Your Soul Contract, Guides and Guardian Angels
Before you incarnated here, you made a soul contract that involved everyone who led you to your ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘. When you were on the other side of the veil, you specifically chose these people to help you grow spiritually. Some of these people may have also had previous karmic relationships with you in which you both needed to try to resolve in this incarnation.
Your spirit guides and guardian angels are with you every second of your life. When you feel pain and sorrow, they do too. As much as they want to see you happy, they also realize that you need to experience certain life situations in order to grow spiritually. Every day, you are being guided in the right direction towards fulfilling your life’s purpose and that guidance includes experiencing the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’.
Letting go of our images of God can be terrifying. It is often the result of an experience of suffering in our lives, when our previous understanding is no longer adequate to give meaning to what has happened to us. When my mother died suddenly in my early thirties, I was thrust into the desert. All of my certainties about God and life were stripped away and I was left raw and frightened. Many people offered trite words and shallow comfort in my grief, they were not willing to sit with me in the darkness, but only hoped to rush me through to a place of light.
This is the mystical experience of the “dark night of the soul,” when old convictions and conformities dissolve into nothingness and we are called to stand naked to the terror of the unknown. We must let the process move through us—one which is much greater than we can comprehend. We can never force our way back to the light. It is only in this place of absolute surrender that the new possibility can emerge. We don’t just have one dark night in our lives, but again and again, as we are called to continue releasing the images we cling to so tightly.
~ Christine Valters Paintner
A Blessing In Disguise
The true blessing of the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ is the spiritual cleansing that you receive. When you have reached the ‘Dark Night of the Soul,’ you have reached your lowest point in this incarnation. To that, I say, “Congratulations!” From this day forward, your life will take on a new meaning as you begin to understand why everything HAD to happen the way it did. Once you come out on the other side of the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ you will gain a new perspective and appreciation of what you had to go through and these experiences will exponentially magnify your spiritual progression.
Typically, many people will experience the loss of ego for the first time in their life during the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. This can be a very humbling experience. We typically associate a title or our accomplishments with who we are but fail to see that ultimately, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. When we lose our ego, we can finally connect to our spiritual essence because we are no longer associating ourselves with society’s preconception (or our own preconception) of who we are.
The ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ gives us a new sense of appreciation for all that is good in life and shows us how little we truly need to be happy.
But the most important aspect gained through the ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘ is the connectedness we receive through our transformation of consciousness. It’s as if you are given a new lease on life. You stop blaming other people and begin to look within for answers. You learn forgiveness and gratitude. You realize that you needed to have these experiences in order to get you pointed in a new direction that will facilitate your spiritual growth and life purpose.
“It is precisely because we resist the darkness in ourselves that we miss the depths of the loveliness, beauty, brilliance, creativity, and joy that lie at our core.”
~ Thomas Moore, Dark Nights of the Soul
If You Are Currently Experiencing The Dark Night Of The Soul
If you are currently experiencing the ‘Dark Night of the Soul,’ I can assure you that there are much happier and fulfilling days ahead of you. At some point, you should put your faith in the Creator’s hands and know that you are always being divinely guided toward your life purpose.
Look at where your life has taken you and what direction you are being shown to go. Try to forgive those who have led you to your ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ as well as forgiving yourself.
Don’t try to force any immediate changes because they will come to you when you are ready. Sometimes during the dark night of the soul, the best thing to do is nothing and just live in the “now”.
While it may not seem like it right now, the people who led you to this point are most likely part of your soul group. On the other side of the veil, they loved you so much that they volunteered to lead you into the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ if you ever got to the point of where you were veering from your life’s purpose… even if it meant that they would no longer be part of your life during this incarnation.
The best way to look at the dark night of the soul is to compare it to a butterfly. Before your dark night, you were a slow moving caterpillar who was limited to a small area because of your lack of mobility. You didn’t realize how much more you were capable of doing until you spun your cocoon. Once you emerged from your cocoon, you transformed yourself into a beautiful butterfly whose boundaries were limitless! In this analogy, the cocoon is where you do “nothing” except going within. You are on the verge of a spiritual transformation, so let go of your ego, surrender to the Universe and soon you’ll be spreading your wings in flight!
Sending you all infinite Love & Light,
Gregg
Litha, Summer Solstice in Folklore
Litha is a pagan celebration of the Summer Solstice or Alban Heruin held June 20th to June 23rd.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
During Litha a fire festival is held to revere the Summer Solstice. The sun along with its energy and life gives warmth. It is an ancient pagan ritual and celebration welcoming the sun at its’ longest day of the year. The ancient Celts would light a wheel or ball of straw on fire and roll it down a hill. They also had bale fires. Fire, being magical in the pagan world, represents the sun and spiritual cleansing. A new beginning, a time of growth and prosperity. This was in honor of their Sun god or goddess to bless them with bountiful crops for the year. The element of fire in ancient times was used for divination to see future events.
In northern Europe where the winters…
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