The sense of self

Since the dawn of humanity identity has defined and followed us, through poetry and hymns, families and careers, favourite colours and mankind's first cave painting. All expressions of individual personality. Through this post I wanted to explore these concepts in the aim to better understand self exploration and the fundamentals of it 💙

So, what is the sense of self?

Many sources refer to the sense of self as being your individual perception of your characteristics that define you. How you view yourself to be to yourself.

Commonly though, this may be referred to as 'identity' as well. But it is important to acknowledge that identity is 'how one perceives how they are perceived by others' thus differing as the sense of self is well only dependant on how you see you ​​​​​​!

​​​​​Self-exploration and the sense of self :

Now we have acknowledged what the sense of self is. How exactly can we define and explore this?

Learning the fundamentals and applying them to oneself! In essence your 'self' is a collection of characteristics like:

Preferences & personality traits

Moral codes & motivators

Belief systems & abilities

Physical traits & biases

Philosophical beliefs & mindsets

From this we can infer they themselves can be categorized. I have placed these characteristics into appropriate fields being :

Personal traits : ​​​​​​Traits of one's personality (generosity, kindness, worry, bubbliness etc.)

Physical traits : Traits of one's physical being (eye colour, freckles, dimples, height, hair colour and length, body shape etc.)

Social traits / roles : Traits or roles identified with or as a product of sociality (being a social butterfly or not, quietness in public, presentation when in company, public behaviour etc.)

Existential / philosophical traits : Traits of one's mental processing (ones belief system, cultural outlook, religious beliefs, personal outlook etc.)

All of these areas can intertwine, affecting one another and influencing overall wellbeing as a result, collectively making up the 'self' some are out of one's control like genetics controlling physical aspects whilst some can be influenced or changed like interests.

An example of this could be say a person with low body confidence (someone's outlook ​​​​​​) if this person had been influenced into viewing their physical form as 'unattractive' by the social influence of experiencing bullying which could affect personal traits indirectly as this person perceives themselves to be less lovable as a result to themselves.

Why is this important?

Many sources have proved the importance of developing a sense of self to enable to build self esteem. Self esteem being defined as "satisfaction with oneself" therefore seeing yourself as you most accurately are to yourself, processing your biases or negative views on who and what you are will allow self esteem to be built allowing for a sense of self worth which reaps benefits overall well-being :)

For example a cognitive scientist (Juan Yang) i have looked into a bit offered a perspective on this, being : "people strive to feel good about themselves or seek to maintain their self esteem, and this is fundamental to human nature" this view i admire as he also brings into play human nature, this being of to essentially want to be well and maintain consistency. Which I've applied myself as conscious living beings is accurate, consistency allowing for stability crucial to surviving can now be applied to our modern lives with routine and need for stable self perception for better well-being.

Where to begin?

Considering the sense of self as any complex concept it can be difficult to begin to explore it but don't be overwhelmed! :) Just as any concept there's always a place to start.

Understanding the aspects of yourself to build a sense of self and outward identity are great places to begin :

> quizzes

> journals

> exploratory questions

​​​​​​..... are all examples of things you can do to start. Beginning with surface basics like identifying features like your eyes, body shape and more will allow a window into what characteristics you identify with and may want to explore further say with self acceptance of these.

After identifying 'surface' characteristics you can follow webs of other traits like your views on them and what has helped shape that as well as your personal preferences and personality traits exploring depths as you go on ; leading to philosophical and existential traits and beliefs which can be shaped and reshaped. Though exploring those should probably be looked into on another post as cultural, generational and social factors can produce these : P

Going forward! :

Exploring the self can be both a fun and weighty task. You can always explore more and see more details of yourself as such a complex and beautiful creature you're bound to find multiple dimensions of yourself when searching. Just be aware of biases and influences, it's purely how you perceive you 💙

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Some finishing final questions for reflection :

Are you happy with your current level of exploration of yourself?

What could you do to better explore your 'self'?

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💙. ​​​​💙. 💙.