“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

By pursuing self-knowledge, we can begin to scratch the surface of that which lies within us. Cambridge Dictionary defines self-knowledge as an understanding of yourself and your abilities. It is crucial to have self-knowledge for us to foster harmony in our lives. If we lack self-knowledge, we will operate mindlessly, being tossed about aimlessly by the circumstances we encounter or we end up groping around for clues as though in the dark of night. 

Part of self-knowledge is also being aware and content about things that are beyond our ability. David in the Psalms says “such matters are too wonderful for me to look into” . The prayer of serenity also speaks to this. It goes as follows:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr

There are a number of theories, methods and categorizations that have been developed over the years to help us know and understand ourselves. I will look as some of these methods or categorizations below:

1. Extrovert or Introvert - people can broadly be categorized in these two ways. You are either one or the other. By way of description, an extrovert gets energized by being around other people, an introvert gets energized by being in contemplation on their own. Being away from people drains the energy of an extrovert while being around people drains the energy of the introvert. 
2. The four temperaments - these are Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy and Phlegmatic. This is a further breakdown of the aspects of being extroverted -sanguine and choleric or being introverted - Melancholy and Phlegmatic. Each individual is unique and has any combination of these four temperaments with some being more dominant than others. 
3. The four temperaments have been broken down further into 16 personality types by work done by Carl Jung,Myers Briggs, David Kiersey. There are tools based on the Jung and Kiersey theories that aid people to figure out their personality types. 

I think knowing one’s personality type is a good way to start in the journey to self-knowledge. Having self-knowledge enhances our prospects of living an inspired harmonious life. You will begin to understand why you behave the way you do, your strengths and your weaknesses. It will enable you to have understanding and empathy towards others. You will understand that we are all different and we view things differently. However, fundamentally, you will see that you are unique and valuable once you have self-knowledge. 

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