The right way to be introspective (yes, there is a wrong way)

[Geoff-Allen]

Wasn't terribly sure which area to post this in ... so move it if you like ....

Hope you are all well.

Just found this article about introspection.

It was Tuesday evening around 11 pm. Holed up in my dark office, I sat staring at a set of freshly analyzed data. A few weeks earlier, my team and I had run a study looking at the relationship between self-reflection and outcomes like happiness, stress and job satisfaction. I was confident the results would show that people who spent time and energy examining themselves would have a clearer understanding of themselves and that this knowledge would have positive effects throughout their lives

But to my astonishment, our data told the exact opposite story. The people who scored high on self-reflection were more stressed, depressed and anxious, less satisfied with their jobs and relationships, more self-absorbed, and they felt less in control of their lives. What’s more, these negative consequences seemed to increase the more they reflected.

The full article is at this location -

The right way to be introspective (yes, there’s a wrong way)

Enjoy!

 

[Nakosis]

Wasn't terribly sure which area to post this in ... so move it if you like ....

Hope you are all well.

Just found this article about introspection.

It was Tuesday evening around 11 pm. Holed up in my dark office, I sat staring at a set of freshly analyzed data. A few weeks earlier, my team and I had run a study looking at the relationship between self-reflection and outcomes like happiness, stress and job satisfaction. I was confident the results would show that people who spent time and energy examining themselves would have a clearer understanding of themselves and that this knowledge would have positive effects throughout their lives

But to my astonishment, our data told the exact opposite story. The people who scored high on self-reflection were more stressed, depressed and anxious, less satisfied with their jobs and relationships, more self-absorbed, and they felt less in control of their lives. What’s more, these negative consequences seemed to increase the more they reflected.

The full article is at this location -

The right way to be introspective (yes, there’s a wrong way)

Enjoy!

Seems to me we need external knowledge to improve ourselves. We are who we are and being introspective perhaps makes us more self aware but doesn't provide the knowledge to improve who we are. We know what we know and if we had the knowledge to improve ourselves we could probably do so.

Zen ,Buddhism IMO provides knowledge/tools for self improvement. Without that external knowledge I don't know if I would be as insightful.

Kind of like humans will head through life in one direction unless something comes along to knock them off to a different course.

 

[Terry Sampson]

The right way to be introspective (yes, there’s a wrong way)

This, obviously, is the wrong way.

 

[David T]

Seems to me we need external knowledge to improve ourselves. We are who we are and being introspective perhaps makes us more self aware but doesn't provide the knowledge to improve who we are. We know what we know and if we had the knowledge to improve ourselves we could probably do so.

Zen ,Buddhism IMO provides knowledge/tools for self improvement. Without that external knowledge I don't know if I would be as insightful.

Kind of like humans will head through life in one direction unless something comes along to knock them off to a different course.

Nakosis, i think you nailed zen buddhism.

 

[David T]

I read it and was totally confused and then reread the title "right way" and i finally realized i follow the "left way". Totally different, how dumb of me. No really good guidelines for that since most folks are right and i am left.

 

[Samana Johann]

Seems to me we need external knowledge to improve ourselves.

Good insight! Now whom to seek for such?