Waking Up

Waking up early in the morning can be hard to do. This task is especially difficult when you don't get to bed until 2AM. If only I had known my Philosophy teacher was not going to have class today I could have rested longer. I didn't mean to stay up that late but when I only see my wife for a few hours a day, I try to spend as much time with her as I can. As of lately I have not been tired when I go to bed. I lay down but sleep does not come quickly. It must be because I have not been active during the day. Getting to sleep tonight will not be an issue as I am ready for bed right now. Tomorrow bring a new day and a speech to deliver at 7:30AM.

I have wanted to wake up early to get more reading into my life. This has proved to be difficult through the years when I don't have a regular schedule, and in some cases without someone helping me to get up early. I will continue and try to get up early to read.

Today's post is pretty weak but I can't seem to put into words what I have been thinking about. I hope soon I will start to figure out how to evaluate my thoughts effectively.

The Value of being Genuine

If someone is doing something for you, do you care if they actually want to do it? Do you prefer not to know this as long as the face on the other side is smiling? Does it matter if you don't know the person well or at all?

I like to know that the other person I am dealing with in genuine. In most cases I would rather a person do nothing for me then do it begrudgingly. I find that I value this trait over the things I want. If I ask a co-worker for help on a project and his attitude shows he doesn't want to help, I will most likely tell them never mind and try to figure it out myself. On the flip side of that, I love when a co-worker is happy to help me out. I think I can take this too far especially if I need the help and cannot complete the job without the added assistance.

Knowing that strangers are genuine is much less valuable to me then knowing that my friends and family are genuine. I know that a used car salesman can seem extremely genuine but that doesn't mean he is looking out for my best interest. I know that he is going to try to get as much money from me as he can. When it comes to family and friends, I value knowing that they do look out for my best interest. I am not the kind of person that is going to have tons of friendships that are only an inch deep. I insist that my friendships are deep. There is no other way to have friends in my opinion.

Proverbs 18:24 A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

There is something to be said about making an inner choice to do something when you don't want to. If it is against what you want or feel like doing it is much harder to do. Choosing within yourself to do something when you do not feel like doing it can have great value. By simply doing that same action outwardly only with no inner choice is much cheaper. The inner choice requires self-sacrifice where the outer choice requires maybe only a few minutes of time. This inner action makes what you do genuine.

Being genuine can greatly improve relationships. It is only when we drop are masks and start being real with each other will our relationships improve. This is why I value genuine friendships.

Introspection

Definitions of introspection on the Web:

• Self-observation of one's thoughts and feelings.
• The act or process of self-examination; contemplation of one's own thoughts and feelings; a looking inward.
• A process of inward attention or reflection, so as to examine the contents of the mind.
• the contemplation of your own thoughts and desires and conduct
• introspection is the direct observation or rumination of one's own heart, mind and/or soul and its processes, as opposed to extrospection, the observation of things external to one's self.
• Introspection is like the activity described by Plato when he asked, "...why should we not calmly and patiently review our own thoughts, and thoroughly examine and see what these appearances in us really are?" (Theaetetus, 155)
  

I thought I would look around to find out how others define self-reflection. These are some of the definitions I found. I like the last one I found on Wikipedia. It is a quote from one of Plato's writings.

As I begin to look at my own thoughts to see how they really appear, I am going to involve my Lord too. He is the one that has raised me up to where I am now and I want to continue to let Him mold me into who He wants me to be. I think this will be a great opportunity to get my thoughts written so I can evaluate them later down the road. I know I am in a time of learning and growth, so when this 6 weeks is all said and done, I think I will be surprised at my ability to evaluate my thoughts.

Topics and Definitions

I was thinking that I would post a few topics that have been on my mind lately. I also wanted to try and define "self-reflection". These two things will help me maintain some kind of structure in my posts. This blog will be a kind of journal for me but I don't want it to be a stream of consciousness type of journal that is hard to follow. I don't believe that stupidity and randomness is a virtue. While I do this I want to work on my writing skills so grammar, spelling and writing structure all apply.

I have had much to think about lately. My wife tells me that I am good at thinking but sometimes I think too much. She may be right but that wont stop me from thinking. I just need to focus in on the important things while at the same time try to stay zoomed out enough to see the bigger picture. So let see, what are some of the trees and then we will look at the forest.

Trees:

• My relationship with Jesus Christ the Lord
  
• My wife and I, approaching our first anniversary, as we grow together
• Our lease in our apartment is almost up
• Her high mileage car and my ready-to-break-down car
• My job's future and where we want to be
• The city life vs the country life
• What direction to go in school
  
• My energy projects

Forest

• All our bills are paid
• We live in a nice place
• I have a steady job
• I have good relationships with my family and friends

I realize that I don't have much to complain about. I live a peaceful life filled with many blessings. I need to remember that more.

Now on to that word, self-reflection. I perceive this to mean looking at yourself like looking in the mirror. When looking in the mirror, you see your own image. You see what others see like your eyes, hair and smile. Things like these seem to be in the metaphysical world your personality, world view, and your soul. Self-reflection as Socrates taught it was thoroughly examining your actions and seeing if they were good.

I believe this to be a start of me looking at what is self-reflection. I also need to know how it applies to me so that I can be sure I have done it properly.
Thanks for reading.

The Challenge

I was challenged by my philosophy teacher this week. She gave a challenge to everyone in class which was to take some time each day and reflect on yourself. She gave this challenge on the day of Lent. I am not Catholic so I was not sure what it was. My teacher explained to the class what lent is and how it is practiced today. She told us that it is the start of a 40 day or six week period before Easter when Jesus died on the cross. Catholics use this time to give up sweets and other indulgences. This is supposed to be a time of self-reflection as they look at their lives. My teacher on the other hand tied the time period into how Socrates always reflected on himself to be sure he was living his life in the right was. He said that the unexamined life is not worth living. My teacher said that even if we were not Catholic, we could use this time to reflect on ourself as well. Her suggestion was not to give something up but to add self-reflection. She provided a bonus to us who would do this. The bonus was if we take these 6 weeks and reflect on ourselves and write an essay on our experience then she would give us extra credit.

This is why this blog exists. I will be using this blog to post my reflections on a daily basis. I may miss a day from time to time as life is quite busy. I will then use this blog to write my essay for extra credit. I don't mind if anyone else reads my posts as they might provoke them to study and think about the things I talk about.

Whoever wants to join me can post replies. If you want to challenge me then that is ok too. I love challenges. A challenge is why I started this blog in the first place. Thanks for reading