Article: Dealing With Our Blind Spots

I just got back from midweek church service and the message was based on the book of Exodus. I enjoyed the insights shared as slavery in Egypt was being compared to modern forms of slavery,  economic slavery for instance…The analogy between Pharaoh’s mindset of “produce more bricks otherwise you are worthless” and the setup of today’s corporate world was quite revealing.

Taskmasters were compared to today’s Sales Managers with unrealistic targets often dumped on them. It’s amazing how quickly we can get blinded by the world system and not even see through the enslavement behind the setup.

One of the practical points stood out for me; the fact that we all have blind spots. When driving, our side mirrors have blind spots. On a bend or with big truck in front of us; the driver also faces such blind spots.

While driving my wife’s car this past weekend, I forgot to adjust the side mirrors. With her help, I was able to avoid what would have been a fatal accident. It does take others to help us see our blind spots.

That’s where mentoring or discipling plays such a critical role in our lives.

The Johari window highlights four quadrants of our personal lives:

•    What we know about ourselves and is also known to others (open or free area).

•    What we don’t know about ourselves but is known to others (blind area).

•    What we know about ourselves but is unknown to others (hidden area).

•    What we don’t know about ourselves and unknown to others (unknown area).

Through our relationships, we can be made aware of our blind areas while we can disclose our hidden areas to others.

*James 5:16; Proverbs 28:13; Hebrews 3:12-13*