His whole life van Gogh was just giving his paintings to friends: to the hotel where he used to eat four days a week he would present a painting, or to a prostitute who had said once to him that he was not a beautiful man. To be absolutely factual, he was ugly. No woman ever fell in love with him, it was impossible.
This prostitute out of compassion — and sometimes prostitutes have more compassion than your so-called ladies, they understand men more — just out of compassion she said, “I like you very much.” He had never heard this. Love was a far away thing. Even liking….
He said, “Really, you like me? What do you like in me?” Now, the woman was at a loss.
She said, “I like your ears. Your ears are beautiful.” And you will be surprised that van Gogh went home, cut off his ears with a razor, packed them beautifully, went to the prostitute and gave his ears to her. And blood was flowing….
She said, “What have you done?”
He said, “Nobody ever liked anything in me. And I am a poor man, how can I thank you? You liked my ears; I have presented them to you. If you had liked my eyes, I would have presented my eyes to you If you had liked me, I would have died for you.”
The prostitute could not believe it. But for the first time, van Gogh was happy, smiling; somebody had liked at least a part of him.
Emotional Intelligence
The importance of understanding one’s emotions, attitudes, and beliefs toward oneself, others, and life. The ability to sit, reflect, and accept one’s position on his or herself is a sobering experience. It can surface lots of emotions – positive and negative feelings toward our internal and external perspectives. How one feels on the inside matters. Self-awareness is the journey to understanding those feelings.
How we feel inside is reflects outwardly. Learning and practicing the art of self-awareness can help to identify those feelings. The analysis of those feelings can help one become more aware of how those beliefs impact short and long-term activities, interactions, and relationships.
Emotional Intelligence:
The shift of perspectives and understanding can awaken how things look on the inside and outside. Which ultimately influences the vision and impact of many areas of life, including business, relationships, and self-love.
Self-Awareness is a part of emotional intelligence. The ability to understand how one feels is paramount to every situation and encounter.
Learning from story Vincent Van Gogh And A Prostitute: Self-Awareness
Experience Learning
The concept of self-awareness is often talked about as if you’re already aware of what awareness is. While the actual definition of the term may be easy to understand intellectually, you have to live it to make it work.
Self-awareness is more than just being self-conscious. These are not interchangeable terms. Self-awareness is being aware of your own presence, inside and out. Self-consciousness tends to lend itself toward self-judgment and assessment, all too often based on someone else’s perceptions. Self-consciousness doesn’t necessarily have to be negative, but it does not often lead to self-acceptance.
Self-awareness leads to acceptance as well as a deeper understanding of yourself. While self-consciousness is analyzing, self-awareness is witnessing. Higher self-awareness is possible once you cultivate an attitude of love, acceptance, and appreciation for yourself. This is not easy to do, but well worth the effort.
To become fully self-aware, we must be in a constant growth (learning) mindset, as we never fully arrive, but rather are continually arriving; life is an active-tense experience and never a destination. At some point, everyone must go through this self-discovery process. Yes, some have had it come to them quickly and others more slowly (and maybe even painfully), but all of us who are living our lives On Purpose have been through this process of becoming self-aware.
