I have always had this feeling of being caged and trapped inside. The desire to jump out of this bodily incaceration grows by day .
How lovely and wonderful, beholding myself walk, eat, pray and engage in all manner of things from a stand point, watching!
Such no doubt would give a bit of clarity to me about who I am, truly.
How pleasant it would be being a mirror unto myself than relying on either a physical mirror to either appreciate or detaste my looks?
Why would my back become so hidden from my view and assessment? Except someone tells me or a mirror reflects it? Why? Oftentimes such appraisal may be flawed with flattery and ill intentions.
How one walks, the built of one and the very detailed aspect of our physical built might be unknown to us.
I want to stand from an ear short distance and watch myself engage in a conversation and relate with people.
Have you ever taken a picture and the image so displayed on the card looks slightly different from the mental image of how you think you look like?
Have you watched yourself in a video only to discover how different you look by your gesticulations etc. It has happened to me severally, reinforcing the more, my scare that I may not know myself sufficiently well.
I am trapped in a body that sometimes gives a false impression of myself. Caged and blinded from the unfriendly -friendly gestures, the talks and disdainful eyes that hit me left, right and centre, known by everyone but me.
I want to stand from a distance unknown by anyone and monitor my day’s activities and the genuineness or otherwise of people in relating with me.
I want to see how I look when I laugh spontaneously, smile genuinely, dance excitedly, get angry and howl in bitterness for an ill done to me.
I want to sit and watch myself scramble for food at functions, hoard and stash away drinks and quarrel over gifts.
I want to look at my eyes and see how they look when being distracted by the tempting display of some people.
I want to watch myself very closely and see how my looks are while lying away truth and sincerity just for selfish reasons.
I want to see myself react to emotional feelings and express love to my wife. I want to stand at an aloof and watch myself pick things from the supermarket, give arms to beggars, drive around and take my showers .
Honestly we don’t know ourselves. The knowledge we have about ourselves is not detailed. It is half, making one to rather have a false impression of oneself against an honest one.
Entrapped in a body that is not all eyes and all ears, limits one from having knowledge of oneself that is all encompassing.
When one stands outside and watch oneself display, relate and engage in all manner of things , only then would one realize that not all praises and commendations given to one are from hearts that mean well.
Have you ever been in a gathering, where someone walks in, his presence is heralded with a lot of fine flowery talks only for him to step out and he becomes an object of scorn and derision?
Men come in flowery words before us and stab with the knife of disdain at our back. Only those who stands from a distance off the compartment of their body would know and retrace their steps.
Man know thyself, though a cliché is one saying man has not been able to explore fully. How much do you know yourself? If you see yourself walking towards you would you be able to recognise him?
We are so much distracted by the sound of praises, rightly or wrongly from people that we get consumed in them while the real self is lost unknown.
Know thyself! Until one gets the privilege of watching oneself from a distance, knowing oneself in its true and strict form might be difficult.
Know thyself man, and rely not on the approval of men. Know thyself deep enough, the truth is , only the truth one discovers by oneself can be more reliable.
A lot of sycophants mill around, looking for souls to devour with their words of sweet and bitter tastes.
Holding unto what you hear them say as the only and absolute reality about you, you of course may have held tightly a jellyfish.
Know thyself, only then, one’s self confidence would be built, not on people’s approval and validation but on the inner conviction of what one truly is.
Know thyself too well, to be above the influence and intimidation of public opinion .
Know thyself, only then would the impression of people about you would only be an appendage to the self approval and validation not the main jist .
Let nobody be the road map that directs your life. Know thyself so deep, no approval or disapproval affects your self -esteem.
Be your motivations no other person knows you better than you know yourself.
Nothing anybody else’s says about you should overwhelme what you say and Know about yourself.
Get off this bodily incaceration and observe yourself first hand, for the army of flattery troops, would make you feel as a king while in their mind and behind you, a weak straw, worths much more than you.
Know thyself, don’t let the crowd know you, defines you and sells the script to you for you to act out.
Be deliberate about it by getting off your body and observe yourself first hand. Be the author of the book you would want people to read and the scruptor that carves the image you would want people to see.
Know thyself, nobody knows you more than you know yourself.
Jarlath Opara
