Understanding Myself

This is a very nice section from www.atmayogi.com

This will help me to understand me better and others too and appreciate what others have to say but it's worth implementing

Understanding Your Personality

It is important to understand your own personality, for two reasons. Number one is that experience is subjective. We don't experience things directly, we experience them by means of our consciousness. Personality is a function of consciousness, so our personality affects how we perceive things. We need to calibrate our perception by understanding the biases that our personality introduces.

Number two is that other people have a different consciousness, therefore a different personality, therefore a different experience. When we fail to realize this we unconsciously establish our particular perception as an objective standard of reality, which is not a fact, and is disastrous to personal relationships and organization.

We are all unique individuals. No two of us are exactly the same. However, we are to a greater or lesser degree alike. It is as if we are all assembled out of factory made parts. There is a big bin of small parts, and nature assembles each person out of these parts. The overall person is unique, but different aspects of persons are shared. You have met people with whom you resonate, and others with whom you clash. This is due to aspects of personality. By understanding this you can understand where your strengths lie, where your area of significant contribution to a team lies, and you can learn to appreciate and value the strengths and contribution of those who are different from you.

Now in case you're going to say something like: “But we're not the body or the mind, we're pure spirit soul”, might I just point out that this book is not available in the spiritual world, so keep it real. There is no “pure spirit soul” restroom – there is a men's and a women's, and you use one of those two when you pass. So your body and your mind does influence your experience in this world, and so does your personality.

One classic example of this from my personal experience is the values clash between progress and harmony. You will value one more than the other, and which one you value the most is a function of your personality. You might think: “Well, I value both of those”, and of course you do. But when it comes down to it and there is a clear conflict between the two, you will fall on one side or the other. You will make a decision, or if you can't do that, at least manifest a preference through inaction, for moving ahead even though it means dissension, or standing around holding hands even though you missed the opportunity to move forward.

Different people will feel comfortable with different things. They are not right or wrong, just different, and understanding what your own preferences are will help you to be more understanding of the majority of others who differ.