The Discovery of Self

To discover is to notice or learn; to find; to learn about for the first time in ones experience. Words that can be used in place of discover would be detect, uncover, unearth, and so on and so forth. The Discovery of Self has proven to be one of my greatest discoveries yet. I discover something new about myself everyday which aids in making me a better man than I was the day before.

Some of you have already heard or read about my personal story (At The Hands Of His Mother). But for those of you who haven't, just know this, I had a ton of issues. Much of which caused me to be a very angry and self-destructive individual. Had it not been for my Discovery of Self I wouldn't have recognized, accepted, and addressed those issues. In that, I would still be the angry, powerless, hopeless, self destructive individual I once was. But the Discovery of Self goes far deeper than that...

Per my Discovery of Self I conquered just about all of the demons I had within. In addition to that, my eyes were opened, as was my mind. All of that ultimately opened the door for CHANGE. With CHANGE came GROWTH. With GROWTH came KNOWLEDGE. With KNOWLEDGE came WISDOM and a grand appreciation for life and everything that it has to offer.

So what might my Discovery of Self have to do with you? Well, that's a very good question and my answer is this. In Discovering ME, I've Discovered YOU, and everyday I become anew! You see, the Discovery of Self is a seemingly selfish process but by nature it's selfless. It's selfish in the sense that you have to step back from everyone and everything for the purpose of stepping within to address whatever issues you might have. During that process it's all about you and only you- As you begin to grow within per addressing your issues, you'll eventually begin to grow outward. That's where the selfless process begins. This is a cycle that should be allowed to continue; as you receive (grow), so shall you give (teach), and vice versa! This also coincides with knowing and loving thyself. In fact, it's all part of the same process. Without knowing and loving thySELF, you can't possibly know and love anything or anyone else. Hence, love thy neighbor as thySELF! (Romans 13:9) And so I say again, in discovering ME, I've discovered YOU, and everyday I become anew!

Andrae L. Bridges