Knowing Yourself Is An Elixir For Your Mind And Body Health.

"He who know others is learned. He who knows himself is wise."

Lao Tsu



"There's a lot of fear connected with the inner journey because it penetrates our illusions. Taking the inner journey will lead you into some very shadowy places. You're going to learn things about yourself that you'll wish you didn't know. There are monsters in there monsters you can't control but trying to keep them hidden will only give them greater power."

Parker Palmer

Though you live with yourself, how many times have you taken a break from your busy schedule to know your inner self? You know all about your neighbor or your friends, yet you don't have time to know yourself. I have a friend, Jane, who has mastered the art of knowing herself. She knows when there is imbalance in her inner self. When this happens, she develops non specific symptoms such as shoulder, back and neck pains. These non specific symptoms affect her sleep pattern making her tired during the day.

Many of you have similar symptoms when you're confronted with stressful situations. Unlike my friend who will not run to her physician for a quick fix, many people will run to their physicians for the magic pill to solve their psychosomatic problems. In the busy office, when the physician has only a limited time to deal with your symptoms, he prescribes a quick fix to help you cope. The only problem is that most of the time the medicine does not work. You then move to the next doctor looking for something else to help you cope.

Physicians are important in your life. However you cannot ignore self care that consists of exercising, balanced nutrition, rightful thinking and spirituality. The ability to know yourself will let you know when you're under stress or overwhelmed. You will then be able to cope. Many of my patients are aware of this, yet they want a quick fix by demanding medications.

Your emotions control your feelings and thoughts. These feelings and thoughts produce their own chemicals. Happy feelings will produce happy chemicals and negative feelings can also produce chemicals such as adrenaline and steroids that tear your body apart and make you sick. Once you are in touch with your feelings, you can recognize when something is bothering you. The essence of managing your emotions is to change your circumstances. If you can't, alter your attitudes towards what is bothering you. Understand that there are certain things we can change and others we cannot change. The trick is to determine the difference between what you can change and what you cannot.

The ability to manage your needs and wants will go a long way to keep you at peace with yourself. You become the pilot of your fate and happiness rather than becoming a puppet in the hands of fate. This ability is within us.The secret is to find time to cultivate this innate ability which most of us have lost.

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another, unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another."

Anna Nin


"It's no good running a pig farm badly for thirty years while saying, "Really I was meant to be a ballet dancer." By that time, pigs will be your style."


Quentin Crisp