The Last To Know

Many of us are the last ones to know about both a good and bad part of ourselves.  Take a genius.  To the genius, things have always come more easily to them than other people.  So they don't make a big deal about their successes in whatever they do that shows genius.  Everyone else sees it first and tells them.  Will the genius eventually apply themselves to what they do well and become a good for the world?  Maybe.  I knew one genius, way smarter than me.  But he did not apply his talents.  I think he committed suicide.  He died young.  Genius is not the panacea for suffering.  On the other hand we are often the last to know or accept a bad aspect of ourselves.  Take the alcoholic.  Everyone seems to know it but the alcoholic. This is the way they always drink. It is their normal. They are the last ones in their circle to admit to alcoholism.  Will they get better? Perhaps.  Or maybe suicide for them too.  So what I try to do each day, since I don't want to be among the clueless, is early in the day, look at the good qualities people tell me I have and ask how I am going to use them in service to those around me.  Then I look at the bad habits and defects in my character and ask how I am not going to let them get in the way of the good.  I do this in prayer...I need power beyond my own.  When people give me a compliment I try not to contradict them.  They have just given me a gift, a second pair of eyes and heart to see myself.  When they tell me I am whining...well, what do they know!😇😇