Unravelling Yourself: A Guide to Self-Discovery and Growth

Before I begin, I want to let you know that I have been very busy. I've been preoccupied and in my head all day, every day since the beginning of Ramadan. If you follow me, you'll see that on my social media as well. That is because I recently joined a program called Visionaire Ramadan. It's a program to teach you how to make Dua and make use of Dua to really speak your dreams. Remember the article I wrote about spiritual atheism? here's a link

How to avoid spiritual atheism: Practical steps to achieve your goals the Islamic and scientific way.

In today’s world, the idea of “manifestation” has become widely popular, especially in goal-setting videos, Instagram stories, and even within some religious communities. But, is it the way to achieve your dreams, or is it just another form of commercialized pseudo-science? I decided to take a deep dive into the

Aminath AnjoonaAminath Anjoona

That was about manifestation and vision boards etc.. how that was pseudo-science. Well, this program "Visionaire Ramadan" is like an Islamic manifestation type O' thing. But unlike "Manifestation", the Visionaire program focuses everything on our creator and Dua, but also taking the necessary action to get your dream Duas into reality. Iv been preoccupied trying to get to know who I am and what I want before the actual course starts. It starts tonight. I AM SO EXCITED.

This article is a bit of self-reflection that had been brewing in my head. I am way too preoccupied to write something bigger. This one is probably all jumbled up but I hope you can take away something of value. Thank you for supporting me 😸

In the hustle of life, we often forget the most crucial journey: understanding ourselves. As someone who has spent years exploring the depths of personal development, I've learned that self-knowledge is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.

The Ramadan Reflection: A Time for Introspection

For me, Ramadan isn't just a month of fasting; it's a sacred retreat. While I work tirelessly throughout the year, this month becomes my metaphorical cave, a time to pause, reflect, and realign my action plans. The key insight? You need to know yourself to plan effectively.

My Personal Tools for Self-Discovery

Personality Assessments: More Than Just Labels

My journey of self-discovery began in 2014 when I discovered James Clear's insights on personality and habits.

Side boast here: I was probably one of the first readers of James Clear's blog before he was famous and before he wrote his book. He was my favourite blogger.

This led me to explore two significant personality assessment frameworks:

1. The Big Five Personality Test

• Research-backed and used by professionals
• Measures five key traits:

• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Focuses on unique personality typing
• Measures four key areas:

• Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)
• Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
• Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

My own journey saw me consistently typed as INTJ-T (Turbulent) for Seven years before evolving to INTJ-A (Assertive).

An Ancient Perspective: The Four Temperaments

Diving deeper into Islamic psychology, I discovered the four temperament assessment, arguably the earliest personality framework. This is the baseline for personality assessments such as MBTI. However, unlike modern tests, this approach recognises that we all possess four temperaments in varying degrees, and we can work to get them into harmony, these temperaments include:

• Sanguine
• Choleric
• Melancholic
• Phlegmatic

For me, this meant understanding that I'm predominantly Melancholic with a secondary Choleric temperament. The beauty of this framework? It's not about boxing yourself in but about balance and growth. I like this framework better than MBTI or the Big Five as those modern frameworks make you think that your personality is stagnant: other people must accept it and you cannot improve yourself. In the temperament assessment, it is believed that we all have the four temperaments in varying degrees, but our primary and secondary temperaments are what show the most. When we learn our temperaments we can learn to adopt positives from other temperaments and reduce negative's from our primary and secondary temperaments.

The Transformative Power of Journaling

Writing emerged as my most powerful tool for self-understanding. It's not just about recording thoughts; it's about processing information, creating mental space, and facilitating personal growth.

My Digital Journaling Evolution

Overcoming childhood fears of privacy, I transitioned to digital journaling. Using Notion, I maintain three key journals:

1. "Thought Journal": Capturing daily reflections
2. "Master Plan": A comprehensive life tracker including:
   • Skills inventory
   • Commitments
   • Projects
   • Reading lists
   • Personal development goals
3. Idea Box: A list of ideas that interest me. Mostly related to business but it could be anything.

The Deeper Wisdom

The Islamic perspective offers a profound insight: understanding personality (Mizaj) is crucial. It's considered so important that those without this knowledge shouldn't guide children, a testament to the transformative power of self-awareness.

Your Path to Self-Discovery

Self-discovery is a rough journey. It requires patience, curiosity, and a willingness to grow. Whether through personality tests, journaling, or deep reflection, the path to understanding yourself is unique and continually unfolding.

Start your journey today. The most important relationship you'll ever have is the one with yourself.

Here is an interesting video on the temperament theories usage in Islam.