Previously, we talked about discovering and understanding ourselves. But how do we do that? It is a very complex procedure, so lets break it down in small segments and understand each individually. I’m not a professional Psychologist, but whatever we discuss here comes from reliable sources and my personal understanding of the subject. I will also give you small activities that will help you to apply what we have talked about, or go deeper into the topic with self work. I suggest you to do them honestly, as they are the key to making our journey a lot more meaningful and satisfying.

To really understand ourselves, we need to understand what makes up our Identity. Now, our identity is influenced by several factors right from childhood. Our parents, our relatives, the belief system followed in the family, culture, music, friends, media and so many other things. These factors affect our ideologies and actions. They have a deep impact on our life in ways that we are not even aware of. Our goal right now, is to bring them to our awareness. We saw the things that affect our Identity. Now lets see the things which make up our Identity.

Of course there are several others, but for now these are the components we will explore. Each component is very effective in determining the nature of our thoughts and actions in our daily life. We will be exploring these topics in detail from next week as it is not possible to explore all of them together. Here’s a short explanation.

Emotions:  The Human Mind experiences several emotions which influence its thoughts and actions. We start experiencing these emotions from a very young age. Emotions come way before we start understanding about values and beliefs. That’s why they are the first in the list. Little things in our daily life trigger emotions in our brain, which drive it to do these things or to avoid them.  We wear helmets while travelling on two wheelers to be safe. The Fear of death or accidents makes us do this. (We don’t feel it every time we wear the helmet, as it slowly becomes a habit which driven by this fear in our subconscious mind).

Values: Our values come next. As we grow up, we learn from what we are seeing around us. It can be our family, friends, relatives, culture, society etc. Slowly as we start understanding the world around us, we slowly form a set of our own values within. People who have grown up in religious families can become religious when they grow up. Or they also might become atheists if they refuse to believe what their families believe. A person who has grown up in a life full of hardships will know the value of hard work, whereas a person who has lived a lavish life from birth might be the complete opposite. Values can originate from anywhere. Our habits and behaviors are influenced by them.

Behaviors: Our behaviors are usually a reflection of our identity. Our values also have a huge influence on it. If you remember, we talked about opposite forces working in unity. This can easily be seen in our behaviors. The opposite forces; the good and bad behaviors work together to form our identity. There are a few behaviors that are influenced by several experiences and emotions from the past. They are ingrained in our Subconscious mind. Carl Jung calls them Shadows. We will discuss about them in detail later. People who have the value of Compassion will be driven to help people in difficult times. Their value will prevent them from doing otherwise. This also applies for bad behaviors. People who have the value of Selfishness will think about themselves in most of the situations for personal gain.

Habits: When we repeat a behavior for long time, it becomes a habit. Habits are also formed by the goals we have in our mind, and the habit is developed to achieve those goals. These goals are usually influenced by our Values and Emotions. A person who is polite in nature develops the habit of being polite with people. That habit is ingrained in his/her subconscious and is executed without much effort. In case of emotions, We develop the habit of watching TV or reading a book when we are tired, as it gives us satisfaction and happiness when done. Usually after doing it several times, it becomes a part of our routine. So, Habits are influenced by all three; Emotions, Values and Behaviors.

You can see how different aspects of our Identity contribute to each other. We are going to explore them one by one. It becomes very important to understand them, as they can affect your life in both positive and negative ways. But when you become aware of them, you can exercise a certain amount of control over yourself. Being aware and in control can help you give a proper direction to your life and also give it meaning and purpose. Being mindful can provide nourishment for your soul and your mind which in turn helps you to live a peaceful life.

Here is an activity for this week which can be used to bring your mind and body to your awareness and explore your inner world. I suggest you to do this before every week’s activity as it will help you to refine your thoughts and find the hidden gold you have within.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post! Have fun doing the activities! All the best and Happy Journey!

Love, Ninad.