Know Your Enemy

The ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu taught his warriors to "know your enemy" before going into battle. For if "you know your enemy and know yourself," he wrote, "you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." But, Sun Tzu warned, "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."

Often times I'll ask people to be themselves, and almost immediately someone will respond back that they are being themselves. Yet, if people seem to know themselves so well, how is that they are always in so much pain and agony? We spend a lot of time studying ourselves like a book or manuscript but not enough time understanding or learning about our enemies that bring us so much pain and agony. I had a friend of mine who seems to hate her mom like she is worse person in human history, but she doesn't understand or know her own mother. And I also have another friend that often times hates males but also doesn't understand or even know a lot about males. Our enemies are sometimes not our enemies, but based on how emotions and state of mind we can turn people who aren't our enemies into enemies.

Sometimes our true enemies can either be hidden or in plain sight, and I truly believe the reason we lose so many battles, is because we are unwilling to do things necessary in order to win a victory. If a person is accustomed to losing all the time, when they try to win they will do the same things they've always done that resulted in a loss. People have to change their way of thinking, this weekend I even realized that I had to change my way of thinking. Going on 5 yrs now, I haven't really put myself into a position to win any victories. In some ways, I even came to the realization that I was the enemy and there were people in my life that were the enemy even if they presented themselves as my friend or allies.

Going into 2012, I've begun removing people from Facebook, Emails, and even my cell phone so I don't get tempted to call them, or if they call me I can know not to answer them if need be. I've even gone as far as to delete pictures and memories I might have shared with certain individuals. It's not that these people were bad influences, it’s just that I allowed my emotions to be so wrapped up in there lives, that I really stopped myself from growing and become more. We have to grow with people; we can't just have an emotional link that isn't productive, shared, or healthy. In some cases, we need people that will fight with us in life and not fight against us. If you're fighting against yourself, you need to find out why. And if you have people that are fighting against you, you need to cut them loose.

Enemies just come in different shapes and forms, and I think it’s sometimes important to evaluate the importance of keeping that aspect around. However, it can be said that sometimes having a weak link in your life can cause you to ignore the victories you should be fighting in order to make life worth living. So, don't spend so much of your life trying to know yourself without spending the same amount of time getting to know who or what are your enemies that seek nothing more than to destroy your happiness.