I regularly hear people say they are ‘going away’ to find themselves. A self-discovery. Self-discovery is a personal introspection which, if well done, will help you become more successful as a human rather than just a successful human.  You want to start a fresh journey and live a life worth living and have things worth having. In that case, certain things need to die and certain things need to be brought to life.

If you are thinking of ‘finding yourself’, then prepare for what you will find. You will discover within you both favourable and not favourable qualities. You will see with a sense of astonishment that you have been attracting things into your life because of what you are rather than what you want. Yes, read that again. You will see how your outer life mirrors your inner life.

Let me put it more plainly. Your inner life, where you will discover these favourable and not favourable qualities, is like a garden, part which is or has the potential to be cultivated with beautiful plants and part which is unkept with weeds. Discovering these things bring unusual clarity. It can be uncomfortable. However, you are the master gardener, the landscaper, always, even when outside conditions seem unbearable. You are in charge of preserving your garden. Prepare to confront that which you discover in your garden. With discovery comes action. Decisive action. Some weeds in the unkept part of your garden look good. They are not. Some weeds have been with you for a long time, even since childhood. The roots are deep. It’s not favourable. They strangle to death the lovely part of your garden. The weeds need to be killed.

In the cultivated part of your garden are three specific things worth discovering. Let’s call them the three sleeping giants. You need to awaken them. They have also been there with you since birth, but strangeled by the weeds. They are your natural strengths, gifts, and interests. Those things are inherent to you. It’s also called your potential. If you awaken them, then you will live your potential as a human. If you live your potential, you will live your purpose. It answers another old question, “WHY am I here?”

Mark Twain said, “There are two important days of your life. The day you were born and the day you find out why.”

When you discover your giants and awaken them, you find out WHY you are here. You will live again. Breath again. Feel human again. Feel fulfilled again.

Remember, your life is a journey, not a guilt trip, so as you go through the process of discovery, you will need to choose the growth of your giants over the weeds every day. It can be difficult, however; it is necessary if you want to move on to living potential and purpose.

Last, you don’t have to go to the highest and quietest mountain to find yourself. For most of us, it is difficult to getaway. My suggestion is for you to have a quiet time every morning before the modern world of stress and nonsense gets hold of you. Reflect on things in your life you want to correct. Make time to think. We don’t do enough thinking. Critical thinking.

One way to awaken the giants is to look at your emotional intelligence. This is a powerful thing to do. Everyone has emotions. It is a simple fact–a part of our being human. And whether we realise it or not, these emotions impact us every day. The more we manage our emotions, the more it helps with cultivating our garden.

Cultivate your garden. Let the giants flourish.

Best,
Marcus van Wyk