Do you remember the song from “The King and I” that Anna sings to the children? “Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you. Hoping that you like me too.” Is this a focus, concern, interest for you? Have you taking the time to get to know… You! Silly? Not at all. We all assume we know ourselves, at least on some level, but just how deep does this knowledge go? Or are you avoiding you? If you met you would you want to get to know you? Do you know why and why not?
I know I’ve asked this before in a variety of ways but I do think it’s important. How can you possibly ‘improve’ you if you don’t know you? Do you take the time to appreciate you? And yes, that is a different subject but a critical one. My bias is that you/anyone can’t accept a compliment or a valuing of them by others until they first value themselves. Perhaps you won’t even hear the compliment or words of valuing if you don’t believe you are: worthy of them, apply to you, (fill in the blank).
Certainly you have warts. Everyone does. We all compensate (over?) for what we feel are our failings and faults. But… that doesn’t mean we should ignore those qualities that are positives. If we do then we aren’t maximizing our strengths nor are we letting those qualities provide a foundation from which we can grow, mature, become our best selves. What do you like about you? What are your strengths that you can use as your foundation?
Take the time to get to know you and I mean on a level of depth that you’ve not considered as yet. There are some wonderful qualities that identify who you are… besides, God don’t make junk. You can look at you with clearer eyes when you dare to see all of you – to paraphrase, ‘the good, the not so good, the bad, the not so bad’ that defines and describes you. Then, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and don’t try and make massive changes all at once. Look at your qualities that will help you redefine the warts and take one at a time. Getting to know you is really worth the time.
