Though we may not face the same day-to-day threats to our existence, self-awareness is no less critical. There is strong scientific evidence that people who know themselves and how others see them are happier. They are smarter, superior students. They raise more mature children. They are also tend to be more creative, confident and less aggressive.
And periodically his will could no longer bear the tension. The superficial order which it had imposed melted into chaos. Though trying wrongly to preserver his mental sense of self-identity he fell headlong into the void of nonentity, for he knew the hell of utter isolation from his kind and from the greater life which should sustain and renew.
But for most people it is easier to choose self-delusion over the cold hard truth. Our increasingly “me” focused society makes it easier to fall into this trap. Recent generations have grown up in a world obsessed with self-esteem, constantly being reminded of their special qualities, and it is fiendishly difficult to examine objectively who we are and how we’re seen.

She waved as she cut through the haze
Fleeting
A merry disruption to the natural disposition
Against the backdrop
The pause is her space
Were time and beauty exist

If he could have resolved the conflict between his unsatisfied heart and his orderly head in imaginative vision, he would have been delivered equally from the demoralising strain of ceaseless self-preservation and from the non-self, of that elemental ‘otherness’ which lay in wait to invade his being, whenever the sentinel mind relaxed its guard.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

Forget the ink, the milk, the blood – all was washed clean with the flood
We rose up from the falling waters, the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters
And none of this, none of this matters.

My research shows that while 95% of people think they are self-aware, the real figure is closer to 10-15%. Not only are our assessments often flawed, we are usually terrible judges of our own performance and abilities – from leadership skills to achievements at school and work. What’s scary is that the least competent people are usually the most confident in their abilities.

When a person realizes he has been deeply heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real sense, he is weeping for joy. It is as though he were saying, ‘Thank God, somebody heard me. Somebody knows what it is like to be me.’

When the sky is thick and oppressive. The rain breaks free from the clouds. Now is the time I feel most at home. Comforted by the heavy weight, it asks little of me, and so in the melancholic days I find sweet surrender. The blue sun is judgmental in its gaze, hiding is cowardly, to face the glare is consuming. If only there were a mellow interlude. Perhaps it can be found in the protection of the ancient trees. Or in the deepest oceans. Or in the freely flowing rivers that carry away all that does not belong. Maybe here we can be true, regardless of the light.

We must work on two specific types of insight. Internal self-awareness, an inward understanding of our passions and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses and so on. And external self-awareness, knowing how others see you, means understanding yourself from the outside in.
What did you do? What did you say? Did you walk or did you run away? Where are you now? Where have you been? Did you go alone or did you bring a friend? I can tell you know how hard this life can be. What went right? What went wrong? Was knowing your weakness what made you strong? Your worries and fears become your friends and they end up smiling at you.

It would be easy to assume that someone with internal self-awareness would also be externally aware – that being in touch with our feelings and emotions helps us tune into how we’re seen. Strangely, research has often shown no relationship between the two – some studies have even revealed an inverse one. Though this isn’t so puzzling when we think about the people we know. That person who spends hours trying out different therapies, but still have no idea that others see them as self-absorbed rather than self-aware.

Is attachment a weakness? If so why is our instinct to act though a limpet or crustacean? Even crustaceans have an outer protective shell… we are too soft to fleshy to survive attachment surely?
Your emotional state, your moods, your ways of being and acting are in a dance with your internal dialogue. Your experience of yourself, of being you, is intricately woven into existence in the way that you speak to yourself and others. It’s not only what you talk about but, more importantly, how you talk about it.

Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its highest. Live in fragments no longer.

For those looking to gain true insight, remember that other people often see us more objectively than we see ourselves and that introspection and self-examination can have hidden pitfalls that make insight virtually impossible.

You from the flood-controlling steep
Saw stretch’d before your view,
with conscious joy, the threatening deep,
No longer such to you.

To me the waves that ceaseless broke
Upon the dangerous coast
Hoarsely and ominously spoke
Of all my treasure lost.

Your sea of troubles you have past,
And found the peaceful shore;
I, tempest-toss’d, and wreck’d at last,
Come home to port no more.

Our collective memory is measured in times of crisis and calamities, harrowing injustices, and terrifying episodes of brutality inflicted on each other and our fellow creatures. But if these were the defining elements of human experience, we would have perished as a species long ago.

Empathy is the very means by which we create social life and advance civilisation.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.


Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

And is it stamina
that unseasonably freaks
forth a bluet, a
Quaker lady, by
the lake? So small,
a drop of sky that
splashed and held,
four-petaled, creamy
in its throat. The woods
around were brown,
the air crisp as a
Carr's table water
biscuit and smelt of
cider. There were frost
apples on the trees in
the field below the house.
The pond was still, then
broke into a ripple.
The hills, the leaves that
have not yet fallen
are deep and oriental
rug colors. Brown leaves
in the woods set off
gray trunks of trees.
But that bluet was
the focus of it all: last
spring, next spring, what
does it matter? Unexpected
as a tear when someone
reads a poem you wrote
for him: "It's this line
here." That bluet breaks
me up, tiny spring flower
late, late in dour October.

Because empathic skills emphasize a non-judgemental orientation and tolerance of other perspectives, they accustom young people to think to think in terms of layers of complexity and force them to live with the context of ambiguous realities where there are no simple formulas or answers, but only a constant search for shared meaning and common understanding

Collection of texts, originals pieces, news articles, poetry, documents; taken out of context - reordered into a 'whole' new text.