Being aware of "the first person" (一人称)

Everyone lives their life without being able to get away from "the first person."

"Me" or "I" keep haunting us from the moment we are conscious of ourselves until our death. We cannot get away from that, and we always see things from the first person standpoint. Perhaps the years which I have accumulated have convinced me that this is the reality of life.

Being a self-involved person, being selfish, would make it difficult for you to understand others' feelings. Being a self-conscious person, minding too much of what others would think about you and adjusting your way of living depending on that, would also make it difficult to understand others' feelings through your misconception.

Since people's mentality constantly changes like an ameba, our state of mind will vary from the self-involved to the self-conscious. If that is the case, I think it would be wise to understand how the first person affects you and how to deal with it better.

Do you want to look grumpy, or happy? Do you want to be a quiet person and lack communication skills, or be a talkative person with good communication skills? Do you want to be an unapproachable person with a lot of pride, or an approachable person who is friendly? These are all in your control and you have a choice to be what you want to be.

It is interesting to know that when the first person occupies too much of your mentality, you tend to overlook the existence of your choices. Going to the extremes of being self-involved to self-conscious, or adjusting yourself to be in the middle, requires your understanding of the whole picture.

So if you can be conscious of the phenomenon, you would be able to gain more control and make better choices. The same thing applies to corporations. If the company management understands the existence of the first person trap, they would become better in controlling the business.