Getting to know yourself is something that is always occurring due to the fact that a person is continually evolving, learning new things and living in a world that is also perpetually changing.  However, knowing that the world we all live in is in a constant state of change, it drives home the necessity even more I believe that each one of us should really get to know ourselves.

Last week, this series began by sharing the five major benefits of taking on this task of getting to know yourself.  Today, I would like to begin suggesting ideas on how to achieve this goal.  Let’s get started.

Spend Time With Yourself

In order to become acquainted with someone or something, time must be spent focusing and paying attention to the new person you are dating, the new task you are trying to master or the goal you are trying to accomplish.  In other words, if you truly want to get to know yourself, take the time to be with yourself.  Spending alone time to many people is daunting. But when you are able to set aside time to listen to what you enjoy, discover what you can get lost in and ultimately find out what makes you feel comfortable, you are doing yourself a favor. Try to make it a priority to make a date with yourself at least once a month, if not once a week. This will provide you with the opportunity to become more comfortable in your own skin, but also know what it is that you want.

Travel

Whether you are hopping on a plane and sailing across an ocean or just getting in the car and heading across the state, take the time get away.  By traveling to different communities, different countries and different regions of the world, you are exposing yourself to different ways of going about life.  So often the assumption is made that the only way to do something is to do what everyone else is doing that you see on a regular basis, but by stepping out of the culture you spend your routine in, you expose yourself to different perspectives, new values and new worlds.  And the hope is that during your travels, you will discover something that will resonate with you which you will want to forever keep in your life, ultimately, revealing more about who you really are.

Try New Things

If you’ve never been water skiing and your friends invite you out on the lake, take them up on it.  If your husband takes you to the local sushi restaurant and you’ve never tried it, or maybe are even scared to, try it anyway.  If a family member invites you on a trip to some place you’ve never been, take them up on it. The idea being, when opportunity comes knocking, don’t slam the door in its face.  You never know when that spark of inspiration will grab your eye, and you find your next new hobby that you couldn’t imagine living without.  Wine tasting came into my life this way over four years ago, and now I can’t imagine not taking advantage of all of the beautiful local wineries in the area.

Listen to Your Gut

The only way to come to trust your gut is to use it.  It is something that most women are more likely to listen to, but following it is often an entirely different thing.  It may not lead you in the right direction the first few times you listen to it, but give it time. Exercise it. Condition it and train like you would your physical body. Your subconscious will work for you if you let it and are willing to listen (read Monday’s Inspirational post – Be Your Own Guide).

Move

I mean this literally. Move.  If you honestly can’t seem to take hold or grasp who you are, it  may be because you’re limiting yourself or are too engrained in the culture that you’ve been living in for so long to see what you need to see.  By taking the leap and moving, you are allowing yourself to start anew, to start fresh.  Granted, our current economy makes this tough, but I can remember completely uprooting myself three times in the past ten years and each move gave me considerable insight into what I could and couldn’t live without, showed me what I was capable of doing and didn’t realize, and gave me a much greater perspective on the fact that life can only really be enjoyed when it is lived on your own terms.

Some of the above suggestions are pretty basic while others very extreme. So take the one’s that speak to you and give them a go.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Click here for the third and final part where I will wrap up the series with five more suggestions on how to get to know yourself, but I want to ask you today, if you have already found yourself, what techniques worked for you? What, in hindsight, was a choice you made that ultimately helped you clarify exactly who you are?  I would love to hear.