It’s been a while since I posted, and I’m sorry about that. But today, the message that’s coming to me is to help you get to know yourself. And looking at some questions to get to know yourself.
Seems a bit strange, right? After all, how could you not know yourself? You’ve been living with yourself for decades at this point! And it is a bit of a natural lead on from the last set of posts on getting to know Brigid. (Check out here, here and here for starters!)
But really, getting to know yourself, really know yourself, is a good first step on any spiritual path. Otherwise, you run the risk of straying from the path that suits you best, or possibly getting bound into something that’s wrong for you.
Where do I start?
Well, for me, I like to encourage people to start with a list of journaling prompts or questions to get to know yourself. If you google “questions to get to know yourself”, you will come up with millions of pages (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration) with lists of questions to get started. Here are ten of my favourites:
- Who am I?
- What am I?
- What am I proud of?
- What do I regret?
- What am I really glad I finished, completed or achieved?
- What am I worried about?
- Who or what gives me comfort?
- How can I show myself compassion?
- What is my biggest short term goal?
- What is my biggest long term goal?
I know. You’re looking at this right now and thinking “how in hell do I even start?”
Seriously though, I don’t even know where to start with these questions.
Fair. It’s not easy at all. So here’s some help.
Make a ritual of it. Light a candle, do some meditation to start with, really ground and centre yourself. It’s easier not to go into this cold. Honestly, I’ve done this cold and it’s not worth my time.
But it can be really helpful to push yourself to make a real event for yourself here. Plan the occasion. Maybe have a sacred bath or shower beforehand. Dress comfortably. Engage with your favourite colour pen or fancy paper. Use a divination method to decide what questions to get to know yourself with!
Now, none of this is necessary. Of course, you can plop yourself down at your desk last minute and use whatever is to hand. That is always an option.
But if you are struggling to start with the questions, making a bit of ritual about it can help.
Ask Brigid
In life, we can forget about asking for help. I mean, I can’t guarantee she will appear in a flash of light, akin to what we think of when we think of the Madonna appearances. But she usually does respond to requests for help!
In a pinch, this can be a really simple, “I don’t know where to start, please help me!”
It can be a more complicated ritual all of its own. Depending on your relationship with Brigid, you will have different preferences and practices here and there’s nothing wrong with either approach. We tend to think that the Irish deities want us to be self-reliant, and they do! But they also will help us when needed.
Please, don’t worry about asking for help!
I feel like I know myself quite well
Brilliant. Then this exercise will be really easy for you! But I would argue that it’s still worthwhile.
Learning about ourselves is always valuable, in my opinion. And it’s possible, hell no, it’s probable that things will come up that are different. As people, we learn and grow throughout our lives. Your biggest regret may change over time – I know mine has! As I grow older, I find new regrets popping up all the time. And, old regrets just don’t seem that big a deal any more. Sometimes this is maturity. Sometimes it’s just the healing power of time.
We all know that life isn’t fair sometimes. And, we know that as we grow older, our outlooks change. If we are honest with ourselves, we can learn a lot about ourselves. I believe that this is a live long experience. Feel free to disagree! But it won’t change my mind about the exercise being valuable.
Are some questions better than others?
Well, here’s the thing. The best questions are those that you engage with. What suits your worldview? If you look at a list of questions, are there ones that you react strongly to? Being honest, if you are looking at a list of questions and you react either really positively or really negatively in your heart… probably a good idea to engage with that question.
But sometimes this is hard work. It sounds easy. Basically, you are sitting down and writing. Sure, what could be so difficult about that? Ye already know the answer here. In my practice, this is serious, worthwhile work. It’s not easy. Even just asking yourself to sit down with yourself and get to know yourself better… it’s hard.
So, go with your gut. Spend the time. Get to know yourself.
Then you can start tackling the really tough stuff!!