In order to live a good life, you must know yourself.
This is not a vague, meaningless statement. The statement made popular by the great philosopher Socrates, it is a perfectly true and important statement.
Contemporary psychology refers to the understanding of self as self-image. The interesting fact is that our self-image or perception of self eventually comes true.
If this sounds too magical, let me give an example.
Let’s imagine that there is a math problem that would require anyone of at least three minutes of effort to solve the problem.
People who have self-image of being bad at math would spend two minutes and quit. The failure would fortify their belief that they are bad at math. Consequently, they’ll really become bad at math. Dream comes true.
On the other hand, people who believe that they are good at math will probably spend the required three minutes and end up solving the problem. This will fortify their belief that they are good mathematicians. And they will become good mathematicians.
Have a self-image. Make it a good one so that you’ll be satisfied with it once the self-image comes true.