Self Mastery

As "The Who" sang out in their 1978 release "Who Are You";

Who are you

Who who who who

Who are you

Who who who who

A major question that could have many answers. As a result, the first two themes we are going to explore in The Power of One are Self-Mastery and Self-Management. These are similar themes, so it is important to contrast my thoughts on what makes them different. In my line of thinking, Self-Mastery is more associated with our thoughts and paradigms, e.g. How we see and feel about the world around us. In contrast, I view Self-Management as more of the processes and actions we follow to live, work and play. Another way to look at it is my taking a holistic view of what makes up a person; mind, body, and spirit. Self-Mastery would be about the mind and spirit, whereas Self-Management would be about the mind and body.

I feel like it is important to explore Self-Mastery, before Self-Management, for obvious reasons. If we are looking at how to achieve more unity and hence more power in our lives, then we have to get a grip on who we are, before we worry too much about what to do, or how to do it. To follow an old quote "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." It is the difference between leadership and management. Leadership is seeing the forest, finding the forest in context of the country, etc. Management is cutting down trees effectively to make a path home (or to work, etc.).

So over the next several posts I want to dive into the messy area of Self-Mastery. We will explore four primary areas of Self-Mastery to help us gain and understanding of, and maybe some applications to our own lives. The four areas are;

The Big Picture

The Box

Inquiry

Balancing Inquiry with Advocacy

Let me know in the comments what you think of this topic of self-mastery.