Understanding yourself really begins with being honest concerning your motivations to do and to not do (fill in the blank). However, do you find that sometimes you surprise even yourself? Do you find yourself doing and saying things you never would have thought you would? Are you a conundrum…. to yourself? It really isn’t all that extraordinary or uncommon. Most of us end up surprising ourselves at times – sometimes good, sometimes not so much. But this is rarely atypical behavior/speaking.
In scripture, Paul makes a similar comment when he says he does the things he doesn’t want to and doesn’t do the things he does. So finding your foot in your mouth is not unusual. We do and say things that on hindsight, we wish we hadn’t. Why? The reasons are legendary. Part of the problem is that there are two things that need to be done in tandem: resolving the situation and understanding why what happened… happened. If you only respond to resolution then your greater learning is missed.
You need to understand your ‘why’. In all my writings, certain themes seem to present themselves in various guises and one is definitely self understanding. It is never a question of liking or disliking the understanding… it’s about understanding. While there are many good aspects about ourselves we need to acknowledge there are also the parts we need to ‘work on’. Why did you do/say? This is another component in self understanding – don’t fear… you.
To be somewhat skeptical, I would suggest that some people use mis-speak as an excuse to say what they actually believe. If so, then it’s a form of self delusion. We all need to be honest with ourselves and self delusion is its simplest form is lying to yourself. Besides, if it really is an ‘innocent’ mistake then how did you become aware of it so fast? It may not be ‘comfortable’ but the more you understand you, the more you allow yourself choices about what you do, when and why.
