That being said – I’m in the naked dream mode.

Now, what does finding yourself au naturel have to do with self-awareness? You guessed it:  I’m still on that theme….

EVERYTHING!!! Because the most famous expression of that thought was captured by Hans Christian Andersen in his famous story – “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

You all know the narrative – the “magic” thread that could only be seen by those who were worthy or smart; the fear that the Emperor’s advisors had of not seeing the cloth; the fear that the Emperor had; the famous march in the streets where the buck-naked Emperor is finally called to task by a young boy who yells out that the Emperor has no clothes on; the realization by everyone that they had been swindled; and then the grand finale – he either runs back embarrassed or continues walking in state to the procession’s inevitable conclusion.

Listen:

And the crowd was stilled. One elderly man, wondering at the sudden silence, turned to the Child and asked him to repeat what he had said. Wide-eyed, the Child raised his voice and said once again, “Why, the Emperor has no clothes! He is naked!”
–The Emperor’s New Clothes

And here is the question – had he truly developed self-awareness at the end – what would, what should he have done?  Continued gamely forward as if all were in order; stopped and acknowledged his foolish appearance, as humiliating as it was; run back in shame to the palace?

What’s your take – how would you end the tale? What would your moral be?

To help you, follow the links below…

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1620.html#andersen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGDr69VOv6g

By the way – the story exists in one form or another all over the world…

August shorties! A follow-up to last week.

Don’t rely just on yourself – you might need some help….

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

Seneca

And there you have it!!! Don’t wait!!!

Have you asked? What’s your experience???

Let me be clear – this is not the same as looking in the mirror. That is too easy. In fact, most of us see what we want to see when the mirror is our only measurement of self.

Self-awareness requires stripping off all embellishments – taking a “fly on the wall,” out-of-body look at ourselves and the scenes we play in.

Sometimes it’s called “taking a hard look”; sometimes it’s considered a realistic assessment – whatever you call it, it ain’t always easy or pretty.

Personally, I have cringed with shame in rethinking situations where I was overly confident or ridiculously secure in the false self-assurance of rightness – when, in retrospect, I was so far out of orbit that I wasn’t even in the same universe as the people I was interacting with.

And as with all things – I find this true for personal and business situations – and I certainly have had my share of both.

At the end of the day, it’s about not allowing you to be gullible to yourself.

Listen:

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.   –Richard Feynman

And there you have it – open your eyes and mind in total synch – and see what you see. I’d be surprised if at least once in a while it’s not what you thought.

What do you think?