Mastering yourself is the simple art of truly knowing yourself, in order to know how to control your emotions. This control is not just of your patience but of your overall reactions to a situation, to your daily routine, to your lifestyle. By mastering yourself, you will be aware of your own weaknesses and your strengths, and once you are aware of these, you will be better at playing by your strengths. Mastering yourself will therefore help you lead the way you live. This is all put together in a beautiful quote by the famous Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching as he once said “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.”
In order to control your surroundings and to be able to control the people around you, no matter who they may be, you need to learn how to control yourself. Once you have mastered yourself, you will be able to master the world.
One becomes the true master of the world the moment an individual realizes that more than half of the events that take place around us cannot be influenced by us, nor can we change them! You can’t change the fact that it rained nor can you change the fact that your job is taking a toll on you. But what can you change? You can change your outlook! You can change your reaction! You can change your entire day! You can change your entire life!
The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind. --Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. The art of mastery is not that of an easy one. This takes time, dedication and most importantly patience. The most important technique to mastering yourself is to develop positive habits and to bring a positive routine in your life. You need to be driven with the want in order to make certain sacrifices and lastly you need to believe. You need to know from your heart that anything is possible, that dreams can come true and indeed ---- they do. Every invention starts off as a simple idea generated in one’s mind, the belief and ability to dream of it becoming reality is what has made our technology today. So why stop there? It is time to use this belief in yourself!
Listed below are a few steps and tips on how to achieve self mastery.
Take out some time to discover what it is you are really into. Get to know yourself, explore your options so that you can attain a clear vision of what it is you actually want to do. Once you have established that, it will give you something to work towards
It is important for you to make the decisions of your life and not let life walk over you. No matter how small or big, based on your beliefs and values. Every decision you make, whether it is to have breakfast or not, or wear something in particular, or not, all these decisions are what shapes up your life. So now is the time to make responsible decisions.
Once you have made a decision with a clear vision of where you see yourself in a positive way, it is important to follow this decision through. This is a very important step when you are trying to master yourself. That is why when making your first decision; it is wise to keep it based on something you know you can do. Once that is established, it will be easier for you to carry it out.
If you ever lose patience or start getting angry at someone, just take a deep breath and count backwards from 10. Keep thinking ‘I am the master of myself’. This will help you control your anger and will prevent you from losing control, enabling you to think more rationally.
There are so many issues in life that on countless occasions, trigger the negative emotions and thoughts within us. Therefore, it is important to always try keeping positive and to relax, this is key when you are trying to master yourself. This relaxation can be of any form. Many people find that praying is a valuable source of relaxation, as this also brings about a positive change in life. Yoga is also a good source of relaxation.
When trying to master yourself it is very important to bring about a positive routine in your life, this will keep you busy and will also prevent you from going the wrong way. You can do this by engaging in constructive habits and hobbies. For instance, you can start reading books. Read biographies or autobiographies about inspirational people, start praying, go for healthy walks, exercises, or you can even enroll yourself in extra courses!