Have you mastered yourself?

[Durakken]

I heard somewhere that it takes a few thousand hours (i think i heard 10, but i recollect 2 as well) to master most things... and then I thought how often does a person actually take the time and pay attention to themselves, observing their likes, dislikes, thoughts, etc... and it struck me that most people probably don't spend much time doing this and have no mastery of themselves, their thoughts or whatever.... for at least most of their lives...

Consider
8-12 hours of sleep
6-10 hours of school/work
2-4 hours of dealing with family and friends
1-2 hours of mundane things like eating and other such things...

Over the course of a day a person probably only spends maybe a few minutes, if any reflecting on who they actually are and what they are doing... Even if we're generous and say an hour a day... that puts most people, if we say 10k is mastery, at not mastering themselves till they're in their late 20s at minimum and on average late 30s.... and we're being generous with the time so more than likely most people never master themselves...

 

[Niocan]

Meditation is a wonderful tool for doing such a thing, and so are psychedelics; Though most people overlook this powerful method due to the political issues alone...
It's a little sad when society wants to control the very way you think, and what experiences you can have... For your own safety of course

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but these are my alternative methods of self insight; Durakken put it into a nice perspective though, and the amount you said per day is very, very generous..

 

[MRaverz]

Meditation is a wonderful tool for doing such a thing, and so are psychedelics; Though most people overlook this powerful method due to the political issues alone...
It's a little sad when society wants to control the very way you think, and what experiences you can have... For your own safety of course

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but these are my alternative methods of self insight; Durakken put it into a nice perspective though, and the amount you said per day is very, very generous..

For one, you don't need drugs to gain a different perspective - relying on anything in such a way would be pretty feeble. Secondly, don't do the whole 'politics = bad cos they won't let me go around doing as I please' thing. The laws are there to keep people from messing up their lives when they don't know what certain activities or substances can really do to them, it's a mistake you can only make once and it's such a potentially destructive one that it's only sane to prevent it even becoming a possibility.


Back on topic, I seem to spend most of my time doing just that - reflecting not only on myself and what it really means to be 'me' but also on the environment I find myself in. To be completely honest, I do it too much and end up becoming quite nihilistic about everything. This is obviously not a good way to enjoy oneself so I have to attempt to bring myself to a more hedonistic viewpoint not just in consideration of myself but also of those around me.

 

[TheFearmonger]

It's easy to master yourself. Just ponder into your heart. I do it in ten minute spurts. I had to do an hour long one prior to deconversion, but I basically imagine my mind as a castle. Inside are countless doors. Each holds a memory, or personality trait, ect. I open these doors in my mind, and allow the feelings to wash over me. I essentially become myself. Then, I simply live, as me. So, yeah, I suppose I've mastered myself. All but some anger issues, at least. :mrgreen:

 

[Salv]

I'm trying to master myself. I find I'm quite lazy and tend to procrastinate quite a lot.
Outside of work I like to paint between two to five hours a day. It's difficult to hit that magical five and have a real sense of accomplishment. So generally I "work" between ten and fourteen hours a day and paint as much as I can over the weekend. I purposely moved about 10 mins walk away from work, so I can completely cut out the mundane travelling process to get more done in a day. I know of a couple of master painters who start work, at home, at seven in the morning and work till about ten at night, till their vision starts getting slightly impaired. I eventually want to get to that stage and maintain it for as many years as possible.
Although I dont' try and find any balance, I find eating/cooking tedious, family boring and don't like to go out too much because I generally see that as a waste of time. I definitely sleep at least 8 hours a day. I tend to do all the time wasting at work, posting on forums, checking email...etc. About a year ago I wanted to move into a studio flat with no Internet, no TV and no little distractions so I could just "work". </boring life story>

 

[xman]

I do not believe that 'mastering' oneself can be seen as a goal, but as a process.

 

[nemesiss]

may i ask a simple question, where do you define what "oneself" is and what not, what it can and can not, how it looks and not looks.

i have strengths and weaknesses, where i strenghten what im strong at and where i try to change my weakness into a strenght.
one weakness i know i have is my communication skills. by working on it, i can turn it into one of my strenghts.

 

[Durakken]

I would say an important part of mastering ones' self is that one should know their limits. Know where they need help and where they don't. To know why you can't do something rather than just that you can't.

For example... my financial situation...
I get say $1000 a month... If I spend $200 in a month at the beginning of next month I will have $1000. If I spend $900... I'll be replenished to $1000.
So... to save money to me in this case it is more saving of money to spend all $1000 than it is to only spend $100. This is logical.
However where the replenishing is coming from is putting out x amount every month so they see it as a deficit.

So understanding what is happening to myself psychologically... there is a clear solution. Instead of setting a refill cap and keeping it at that level, set a static amount to increase by. This causes the change in my view so that saving is spending less and has the benefit to the replenisher to save money as i am inherently not spending as much money any more.

Not understanding what is happening to myself leads to the replenisher to spend more or stop replenishing causing a problem for 1 or both parties.

 

[borrofburi]

I know of a couple of master painters who start work, at home, at seven in the morning and work till about ten at night, till their vision starts getting slightly impaired. I eventually want to get to that stage and maintain it for as many years as possible.

This may not be the most productive way. In the end it's the quality of the paintings that matter, not how many you produce (or how much you get done in a day). I know of at least one writer that used to work 8 hours a day writing, but after learning about other people's work habits, he tried working 4 hours a day and found his productivity was "better" (whether that means he got more done or his writing quality was significantly improved, I do not know).

i have strengths and weaknesses, where i strenghten what im strong at and where i try to change my weakness into a strenght.
one weakness i know i have is my communication skills. by working on it, i can turn it into one of my strenghts.

The strengths quest people would say that working on making strengths stronger is more important than shoring up weaknesses.

 

[Salv]

This may not be the most productive way. In the end it's the quality of the paintings that matter, not how many you produce (or how much you get done in a day). I know of at least one writer that used to work 8 hours a day writing, but after learning about other people's work habits, he tried working 4 hours a day and found his productivity was "better" (whether that means he got more done or his writing quality was significantly improved, I do not know).

I do tend to agree with you. I think this guy in particular has about 40+ years of experience, he does mix up his methods a bit. I think the whole process of laying down the paint for him is almost a thoughtless process, after he has chosen his subject. He does work from photographs. His problem is that his work is incredibly complicated and there is a lot of work to get done if he's to be ready for all the shows. I do think productivity starts to decrease considerably the more hours you tend to work in a day.

 

[Nogre]

I define myself through my actions, my decisions, and my effect on the world. I don't see how that can be mastered, just improved. But I am most certainly always trying to improve my abilities. I also think that even if you did want to try to master yourself, who you are is always in motion, and you'd find yourself either mastering what you thought you were, but are no longer, or forcing yourself not to change, and I find both of those undesirable.

 

[richi1173]

Over the course of a day a person probably only spends maybe a few minutes, if any reflecting on who they actually are and what they are doing... Even if we're generous and say an hour a day... that puts most people, if we say 10k is mastery, at not mastering themselves till they're in their late 20s at minimum and on average late 30s.... and we're being generous with the time so more than likely most people never master themselves...

I have and I don't like what I find. I can never come to accept myself on anything.