Self-knowledge implies knowing ourselves emotionally and psychologically. That is where the mystery lies that needs to be understood to understand ourselves.
Emotions deeply affect our thoughts, actions, and world view ultimately influencing who we are. We cannot understand ourselves without examining and understanding our emotions and where they come from.
Many factors can influence our thoughts. These include family, education, genetics, and experiences in life. But we can usually keep our thoughts under conscious control. If you are well aware of your thoughts, you can make an effort to change them. In brief, it’s thoughts that make us feel and behave in a certain way and determine our personality and attitude.
Emotional thoughts don’t necessarily reflect reality. If we don’t take time to examine our emotions and feel the associated feelings, we will never understand where they come from preventing us from having a rational understanding of them or ourselves.
Journaling as well as psychotherapy are effective tools to begin to analyze emotions and feelings.