I was chatting with a friend today and she told me about a personality test she had taken. My reaction was less than encouraging, given that I am still digesting the results of the Myers-Briggs test. She argued that she likes to improve herself by whatever means, which got me thinking about my own attitude towards self-improvement and the connections between all the self hyphens (self-acceptance, self-realisation, self-actualization)
I don't see myself as a perpetual project. I am aware of some of my flaws and unaware of others like everyone else, but I feel like sometimes our attitude towards our flaws can be more harmful than the flaws themselves. A long torturous relationship with guilt has made me realize that, even though that is the staple teaching of most meditation courses and philosophies associated with self acceptance. As for self improvement, it is a difficult task to change well-formed behaviour and thought patterns. Our behaviour and thought patterns are emergent--they reflect our surroundings and circumstances as well as our personalities, which are not set in stone either. Sometimes the correct (by which I mean most useful) response to change the situation rather than the thought/behaviour pattern.
This post has become much more complicated than I had thought it would be and since I have to run, I will pick up on it some other time.
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