Self-Realization Is the Beginning of Life Satisfaction

Whether you write, paint, garden, manage, or fight fires you can't do it well unless you realize what your self looks like

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We all want to be good people—one component of getting there is self-realization. What is that, exactly? It’s discovering and fulfilling the possibilities of one's character or personality. All by yourself.

When I was about 11 years old, my mom gave me a little paperback booklet of inspirational writings that I still have (I’m 75 now.) The thing measured about 3” wide by 5” tall and was printed on thinish semi-glossy paper. It’s now curled up, dog-eared, and permanently open to a particular poem. I remember my mom telling me, “If you read this every time you have a big choice to make, I don’t think you could make many big mistakes.”

The first time I read it, it kind of echoed in my heart, and I knew there was truth in the words, though some may see them as slightly platitudinous. I’ve read it many times, and it always seems to nudge me back onto a track I believe is helpful. This poem gave me a focused picture of my possibilities should I desire to self-realize.

Let me know what you think, will you?

Myself
by
Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself and so

I want to be fit for myself to know.

I want to be able as days go by,

always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand with the setting sun

and hate myself for the things I have done.

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf

a lot of secrets about myself

and fool myself as I come and go

into thinking no one else will ever know

the kind of person I really am,

I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect

I want to deserve all men’s respect;

but here in the struggle for fame and wealth

I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know

I am bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself and so,

whatever happens I want to be

self respecting and conscience free.

This poem is in the public domain.

Edgar Guest (1881 - 1959), born in England, relocated to Detroit, Michigan, when he was ten years old. He published his first poem at 17—and 10,999 thereafter. Edgar spent sixty years at the Detroit Free Press as a reporter and columnist, and his work was syndicated in newspapers around the US. He was called the "People's Poet," was Michigan's poet laureate, hosted long-running radio and TV shows, and published more than twenty books.

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