'The Unexamined Life is not worth Living.'
Uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety as described in Plato's Apology.
Examining your life is really the purpose of Existential Counselling/Psychotherapy, although you will be doing that to some extent in any counselling.
A widely held view is that most people drift through life asleep, not really aware of much that is at the core of life. Only concerned with their own gratification, their own prospects, their own money, their own stuff. Governed by their upbringing, governed by indoctrination, governed by the group behaviour and thought, and the latest trend. Selfishness is a word that comes to my mind at this point.
On the other hand you might be selfless, caring, giving and forgiving, and concerned with the welfare your fellow man.
As we are coming up to Christmas, I am reminded of Dickens and A Christmas Carol, and how Scrooge is made to examine his life. He is repeatedly faced with his selfishness, and his pusuit of wealth at the expense of living, and it is only when faced with his own death that he finally breaks out of his souless existence and becomes a real living, caring, selfless human being. This is the result of an examnined life, that then becomes a life worth living. The story also illustrates the resistence within human beings of examining themselves and changing.
Whether you are in distress or not, counselling can be a very powerful tool in examining your own life, understanding it, changing it and making it more meaningful. One of my clients said everyone should do this. She found it such an exciting uplifting process. After all, what is the point of living this life if you really do not know yourself at the end of it?
