What are my strengths and weaknesses? Why is this stressing me out? When do I feel most at ease? What are my defense mechanisms? What are my values in life? What activities can I do endlessly without looking at the clock?
Asking myself these questions set in motion a deliberate endeavor to having self-awareness in light of God's love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. The beautiful paradox of beginning in His light is that I begin to properly regard myself not by turning inwards but by fixating outside of the "self"--on God who has an unrivaled knowledge of me.
The following quotes from insightful individuals have also helped me steward well what others don't see, like the root of my emotions, values, and measures of success. I hope they'll be valuable to your own journey to self-awareness.
1. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.
2. Eric Hoffer
Those who invest themselves in becoming their best selves, and even more importantly, those who invest themselves in helping others become their best selves, are involved in the most important work possible on the face of the earth.
3. Bob Hamp
People functioning in an area of their created identity and strength will always be more productive than those who are simply trying to fill a position or role.
4. Jon Bloom
Each of us is a part of the body of Christ and has a particular function. But it takes the body of Christ to understand the function of a part and it takes all the parts to make the body function.
5. Donald Miller
It costs personal fear to be authentic but the reward is integrity, and by that I mean a soul fully integrated, no difference between his act and his actual person. Having integrity is about being the same person on the inside that we are on the outside, and if we don't have integrity, life becomes exhausting.
6. Matt Knisely
Finding myself is less a matter of uncovering some supposedly pristine and genuine self within, one uncorrupted by outside influences, than it is discovering my role in various stories in which I am one of many characters.
7. Frederick Buechner
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
8. C.S. Lewis
Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
