Creation vs Discovery

In today’s world, where ambiguity is the norm, in my humble opinion, it becomes paramount that we have clear definitions of our traits and intentions while we are at work, with our spouses, friends and family.

However, there is an interesting series of thoughts that I had one fine day which made me explore the topic of defining oneself a little deeply. Let’s take the ride together, and find out what would be the best way of defining ourselves.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

– Alan Watts

We have talked about self awareness as a concept in a number of our articles here on Facets of Life. I have been writing about self awareness as a facet of life for more than 4 years now, & you can find glimpses of my very humble opinions in articles like Awareness and Cognisance.

I believe, and always will, that both momentary and perpetual self awareness are key for one to lead the “good” life. Looking for examples? Well, I’m sure we all have someone whom we consider to be a completely “together” person. You know, the person to whom you reach out in tough times.

This guy has got it all figured out, and has been able to provide pretty solid advice and suggestions in the most clutch moments possible, without breaking a sweat or displaying any signs of anxiety on their face. With a stoic demeanour, this guy will always come through for you, and himself.

This guy would most likely give credit to being aware of his limitations and strengths when asked what allows them to be calm and composed in difficult situations. We all would love to be like them, even if we’re pretty together, there would be one aspect of their personality that we’d love to imbibe in us.

There is however, a contrarian school of thought, which believes there is an alternate way of living the “good” life, which is through self-creation.

For anyone who isn’t aware, self-creation is a philosophy which works on an overriding mechanism, wherein, the person is presumed to have complete control over one’s senses and thereby actions, and supposedly allows the person to change their habits at will.

The contrarians also have a pretty robust case of delivering favourable outcomes to people across the globe. We have seen and heard of people who have been able to change their mindsets overnight and hence received tremendous positive outcomes in their lives. An example would be the “gritty” person you might know.

I’m thinking folks like Virat Kohli & David Goggins. They take a setback and turn it around completely for themselves & everyone around them. They refuse to let any external or internal strifes to deter them from reaching their desired goals. In a way they become rock solid, autotelic personalities.

These stories motivate us and inspire massive action, which if sustained over a period of time can lead to complete transformations.

For anyone looking to improve their lives, it is very easy to get confused when looking at these two personality types. It is commonplace to get caught up in the complexities of the effort that it might take on either side of the spectrum, be it the self-awareness path, or the self-creation path.

There is an interesting phenomenon that comes into play here. The personalities we discussed above are pretty similar, we just tend to focus on different facets of them. For the “together” person, we looked at their stillness, and for the “gritty” person, we looked at their motion and unstoppable-ness.

I am taking a stab at explaining the best way, which is by making a pretty strong statement.

Self-Discovery and Self-Creation are not mutually exclusive processes.

We cannot imbibe a positive habit in us unless we are aware that we have negative habits which we need to replace. And that is the principle of any habit building mechanism you might know.

If you stuck around this far, thank you for your time. If you enjoyed this, share this with one friend of yours whom you think will benefit from reading this. Thanks for reading, and I will see you in the next one. 🙂