Our Conflicting Aspects

In today's blog I plan to ruminate around human aspects. What are the aspects of who we are? The word, "aspect" has many possible applications in the English language, one of them being: "the side or surface facing a given direction"; this ties-in with viewing the Self as a jewel with many facets.

In a prior blog I mentioned a poster I had seen in the '60's, which was: "The trouble is that I had lived most of my life before I discovered it was a 'Do-it-yourself' job." If only each of us had been raised to understand that, we, each of us, are ultimately responsible for shaping who and what we become, instead of having been Programmed and Indoctrinated to shape ourselves in various set/accepted/expected ways.

As a result, many of us, at some point or other, discover that we are, essentially, a square peg in a round hole, and/or struggle through life believing there is something wrong with them, because they do not fit the definition of, "normal." Also, as a result, large numbers of people go through life, "faking it"--pretending they are, "normal."

Whether "faking it," or not, each of us, as humans, have many aspects, any one of them being subject to being perceived as the primary, defining one, by ourselves and others. The most obvious of these are: what we do to earn a living, or spend most of our time doing; one's profession; one's primary talent or skill, etc., etc. Sub-aspects are one's gender, age, cultural background, religion, etc., etc. These are the aspects we are, more-or-less, conscious of showing to the world.

Many other aspects, most individuals are unconscious of displaying; only occasionally becoming aware of them in others, also on an unconscious level. Unless blatant, these aspects generally only become conscious after more extended exposure to another person, when other, more revealing, aspects become apparent. Some of these are attitude, degree of self-esteem, personal style, ego, personality type, etc., etc.

A primary aspect of who we are is what we believe. As indicated previously, what we believe is programed starting from our very earliest embodiment. And, as I have also written about in various blogs previously, many of the listed aspects are an outgrowth of what we Believe to be True about ourselves and the world, as well as reality.

This is where, life being a do-it-yourself-job comes into play. If, as I maintain, one's primary responsibility in life is to oneself, then, it follows, if one wishes to re-shape oneself, time must be spent discovering what shaped the previous Self.

As I have suggested before, spending time writing in a Journal, putting down what you remember about your early life, family history, relationships, socializing process, and how you fit into your family structure, to bring to consciousness what your early life was like, is a good place to start.

With that reminder, I end this blog.

Shirley Gallup