Principle #3

During the recent youth conference that held in my church, there was this song by Sinach that we kept singing and whenever it was raised by a chorus leader, every one of us starts jumping and screaming out the lyrics. Let me activate my singing mode (please sing along with me): “We are a chosen generation, called forth to show His excellence. All I require for life, God has given me; I know who I am. I know who God says I am, what He says I have, where He says I’m at, I know who I am”… Bridge abi vamp goes thus “I am holy, I am righteous ooo uuu, I am so rich, I am beautiful ooo.” Many people just scream the lyrics of the song and do not take out time to actually meditate on the words and try to understand what they are actually singing. Have you taken out time to ask yourself “who am I? Who does God say I am? Am I actually who He says I am? Am I where He wants me to be? Do I have all He wants me to have? These and many more questions lead us to my principle number 3 which is The Journey to Self Discovery.

Self discovery is the act or process of gaining knowledge or understanding of your abilities, character and feelings.  It has to do with becoming aware of your true potential, character, motives, etc. It is the process of learning more about yourself and who you are. It is important that we find concrete answers to the questions above. My name is Kanyinsola and I’m a writer doesn’t make me who I truly am, there are so many other things about me that I need to discover. What exactly makes me different from another person? What is that unique thing about me that I am yet to find out? The journey to self discovery is a very long one and I’m not about to affright you; but the truth is, some people die without getting to know who they really are. 

Self discovery should be an important goal for everyone. It is only through the discovery of self that we can identify our purpose and actualize our potential. On the other hand, failure to embark on a pilgrimage of self discovery will cheat us of the opportunity to understand who we are and what we want out of life, as well as how we can help others during our time on this earth. What then are the steps to self discovery? To begin with, there is the need to sit back and provide sincere answers to the following questions: How well do I know myself? What do I want in life? Do I have a sense of purpose? What defines me? What makes me happy? For me, I found out that at this stage, some of my answers to these questions are “I don’t really know”. It just means that I have to keep searching and getting to know myself.

Discovering yourself in line with your goals: career, relationship, spiritual, educational, etc. just has to do with getting to know your strengths and weaknesses. What are you good at? (I act pretty well, maybe I should join drama unit) What are you not good at? (I’m not sure I have a good voice, project fame is not for me) What are those innate abilities you have (I’ve been singing and dancing from my mother’s womb) What are those other things you feel you will be able to do if you just engage in a little more practice (I discovered I use my picture editor well for instagram, maybe I should try photography) What are you forcing yourself to do because someone is watching? (I must fast and pray like Jesus because sister Shalewa is watching, I must show how spiritually mature I am).

Here are some quotes I found really interesting about self discovery

• “knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. Aristotle
• “when I discover who I am, I will be free”. Ralph Ellison
• “at the centre of your being, you have the answer, you know who you are and you know what you want”. Lao Tzu
• “the greatest discovery in life is self-discovery. Until you find yourself, you will always be someone else”. Miles  Munroe.
• “never mind searching for who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be”. Robert Brault
• “every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character…” anonymous
• “he who knows others is learned but he who knows himself is wise” Lao Tzu
• “knowing who you are is the best defense against who they think you are” Dodinsky

“Every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character…” This struck me really hard like there are one thousand and one undiscovered character I have to discover in me and the truth is, if we make conscious effort to discover these things, we find ourselves making exclamations like “I never knew I could do it ooo, I just said I should try” Start this journey and make it a point of duty to discover something new about yourself.

So Much Love from KanyinWrites.