Here's My Theory

Become an Autologist

What do autologists do? They study themselves! No, this is not a profession, and it’s not a course you can take at school. This is just something that everyone should be engaged in, in addition to their career.

It’s very important to have a clear, and honest understanding of yourself. This includes both the good parts and the bad parts that most of us like to pretend aren’t there.

So what are some ways to get started?

First, you should be calling yourself out on your own bullshit. If you feel yourself making an excuse in your own head or being in denial, don’t let yourself get away with it. Instead, ask why you’re making an excuse, you’ll probably learn something.

Next, you should be very observant as to what makes you happy, sad, mad, irritated, etc. See if everything that makes you happy has something in common. If you can find the root to your own happiness, it will be easier to find other things that make you happy as well. On the flip side, if you find the root of what angers you, you can more easily predict which things will ruin your day. This way, you can steer clear of these situations.

Once you know some of these things, there’s something very important that you need to jam into your head:

There is no such thing as feeling the wrong way.

Before I explain that, let me just repeat it one more time:

There is no such thing as feeling the wrong way.

Too many times have I heard people completely understand how they feel, and think something is wrong with them. Since there is no such thing as feeling the wrong way, nothing can be wrong with you based on how you feel.

There is such thing as doing the wrong thing though. Somehow these two things have gotten tied to each other, but they are very different. Once you understand how you feel, if you ignore your own feelings by doing something that goes against them, you’ve now crossed into a bad place. I see this often with people in troubled relationships, and homosexuals who haven’t yet admitted their sexuality to themselves or others.

Don’t try to fit someone else’s mold. It’s much more beneficial to look deep inside yourself and find the shape of the one you already have.

As stated earlier, a true autologist is not afraid of their own negative qualities. Pretending you don’t have them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. If you kill someone and put the body in your closet, you can pretend it never happened because you can’t see it. But it won’t be long until the smell seeps out from under the door and begins to stink up the rest of the house. For this reason, you should never kill people.

Wait a second, I think I got off track. What I meant to say is, you can’t pretend your own negative qualities don’t exist. Whether you acknowledge their existence or not, they are still impacting your life.

In this life, people and things will come and go, but you’re not getting away from yourself. So don’t be afraid to tell yourself to cut the crap once in a while. I’m sure you’ll find it in your heart to accept your own constructive criticism.