Socrates said, "the unexamined life is not worth living." This phrase has been haunting me for the last several months. What I believe Socrates to be saying is, the life that goes unexamined is really worthless. The person that takes no time to slow down and examine his or her existence, actions, motives is really living a life that isn't worth much. How much do you really know about yourself? Do you know why you like certain things, and dislike others? Can you understand why you react the way you do in particular circumstances? How are you progressing on dealing with your own struggles?

I think it's funny that we tend to know more about other people than we do about ourselves. We know that Jenny is a compulsive liar, we know that Tom really needs to work on his confidence issues, and that Matt and Christy really need to talk about their problems or it's over. Our natural tendency is to take a magnifying glass to other peoples lives, figure out their problems, and offer them solutions. But how many times do we turn that around to examine ourselves? Do we ever ask ourselves the question, “Why do I get out of bed in the morning? Who or what am I really living for?”

I'm reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. He says at one point, “... what should be man's morning work in this world? I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind as all undusted still, and I threw them out the window in disgust.” It's disturbing that we get so caught up more in other people's lives, and yet equally sad that we tend to get caught up in the care of our material possessions when our minds remain covered in dust bunnies. I find myself at times worried more about having my Podcasts up to date, my calendar in order, and my DVD collection organized, than really caring for nurturing my own development.

I know personally I opt to sit on my computer and play World of Warcraft, than going and enjoying a good book. Now don't get me wrong, I believe games can enrich us, and so can movies. But let's be honest with ourselves, does my PS2 or Xbox do the same thing for me that reading a classic novel or philosophy book would?

Lately, I've been challenged to spend more time examining my own life, motives and actions, than putting someone else's under the microscope. I write this mostly for myself, that even though I'm not in school anymore, and I have freedoms galore, I need to continue to grow. I don't want to come to the end of my life and realize I've wasted it with judgments on other people, or caring for material things that will eventually rot away. Instead, I want to know that I've really experienced life to the fullest and strove to really understand who I am and where I fit.