Some people consider therapy or self-analysis to be useless or even destructive, pointless navel-gazing that can cause paralysis or unnecessary pain.
Despite many personal and professional experiences in which introspection has been incredibly useful, I still know why people are often skeptical of too much self-analysis. While on vacation I read Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. This book, about life at a tuberculosis sanatorium in Germany, explores perceptions of time, illness, identity, and personal meaning. Writing in 1924, Mann highlights the constructive and destructive potential of a new treatment, psychoanalysis, that was becoming popular at the time.
"Analysis is good as a tool of enlightenment and civilization - to the extent that it shakes stupid preconceptions, quashes natural biases, and undermines authority. Good, in other words, to the extent that it liberates, refines, and humanizes - it makes slaves ripe for freedom. It is bad, very bad, to the extent that it prevents action, damages life at its roots, and is incapable of shaping it."
I think this eloquently describes the difference between productive insight and paralyzing self-absorption.
Sometimes an inward focus can become a substitute for change, and people get stuck in their own thoughts. Introspection and careful thought about your life can fuel self pity, rage, paralyzing shame, or unquenchable guilt - without providing any forward momentum, if it is not accompanied by new knowledge and a plan to constructively use this new insight. New knowledge, in the absence of a new direction or behavior, can be used as a weapon for intertia, rather than a catlyst for growth.
How to use self-awareness as a starting point for change and growth?
As you start learning new things about yourself, pay attention to how you react. For example, if you realize that you are more envious than you ever imagined (most of us are), you may feel self critical and even ashamed. If you just focus on how much you don't like yourself, you will miss an opportunity to find new ways to manage your envy, and your investigation will be counter-productive. This type of self-criticism undermines the job of an Emotional Detective, distracting from the hard work of understanding with compassion and working to change your life to promote better feelings. Instead of flogging yourself, try to devise new ways to manage and transform your envy. Perhaps you want to study the person whom you envy, to figure out how they came to have the qualities or circumstances that you admire or covet. While some of their attributes may be the by-product of good luck, the chances are pretty good that they made good use of what they have been given.
Becoming more self-obsessed without working to make changes is one of the pitfalls of self-refection. You can avoid this problem if you put your mind to making changes based on your new knowledge -- changes designed to help you get more of what you want in life.
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