I.   It is best, but not necessary, to start with yourself. If you don't know yourself, there's little chance you'll
     ever catch what's going on in other people's brains. Besides, you have more background knowledge of yourself
     than you do anybody else. This makes working introspecitively first an ideal.

     A.  Notice things you have strong emotional reactions to, as well as things that you should have
	 strong reactions to, but don't. Try to figure out why you react as you do. What values 
	 do you hold which makes that emotion so strong? Is there any person or any event in your life
	 which brought you to this value?

     B.  Take note of your physicality during times of strong emotion. When you get angry or frustrated,
	 what happens to your body? Do you fidget or become still? Do your eyes dart? Does your body
	 temperature change? Does your voice change in volume or speed? The same goes for feelings of
	 happiness, peace, excitement, lust, apathy, etc. Your body gives you clues. Know your own signals.

     C.  Watch yourself for patterns of behavior. Things that you do habitually, rather than out of 
	 principle, are clues to your values as well as your phobias and insecurities. Do you obsess over
	 your hobbies? Do you surround yourself with light, or prefer the dark? Do you get your energy
	 from being around people or from being by yourself? Do you have a pattern of irrational behavior
	 when around people you have crushes on? Are changes in the way you view particular people
	 predictable, or not?

     D.  Take personality quizzes. Ok, these quizzes are often over-generalizing and insufficient, but at
	 least they're a place to start. Just don't take the results to be set in stone. The creators of
	 those things were flawed humans just like you and me. They have yet to create a thorough, unbiased
	 explanation of personality. Look at your results on these quizzes, read through the explanations
	 of the different types, then determine if you think your results are accurate.

     E.  If you can, try to remember your dreams. Dreams are highly symbolic in a personal sense. Not every
	 dream means something, but if you do have a struggle or a phobia, it is likely to pop up in your
	 dreams eventually. Write your dreams down, and talk to people about them if you feel that you can.
	 Pay close attention when you have nightmares (especially if you haven't been around any good horror
	 movies lately). To figure out the symbols in your dream, think about what makes the symbol unique.
	 For example, the bedroom is typically a place for sleep or sex. If a dream of yours takes place in
	 a bedroom, it may be one of those two areas which you are having trouble in. But if for some reason
	 you use your bedroom for exercise routines, then it might be you have issues relating to your image
	 of ideal physical fitness, and the amount of effort (lacking or excessive) you engage in to reach
	 your fitness goals. People in your dreams may symbolize that exact person, or they may have other
	 personal connotations. If you dream of an aunt that you associate with strong religion, it might be
	 that she represents your religious upbringing or the religious forces of society at large. Do NOT
	 rely on dream symbol books. In every one I've seen, the definitions are arbitrary and useless. Dream
	 symbols are always personal, so look to your waking life to interpret their signficance.

     F.  Keep a journal. Whether you use it as a place to logically figure out what to do next, or as a place
	 to vent your emotions, a personal journal is a very very helpful. You can look back on it later, see
	 what you were thinking/feeling before, and learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible.
	 Writing is transformative.

II.  Practice interpretation by analyzing art. Learn to judge art by it's faithfulness to how you think life works.

     A.  Recognize that art is meant to be an expression of someone's thoughts or feelings. Think about how
	 the person felt as they created a work. If it is a work with strong emotions, and looks like it
	 took a lot of effort and time to create, then it is reasonable to guess that the subject matter is 
	 a significant concern for the artist. Interpreting art is good practice for interpreting people.

     B.  Look through your music collection. What general emotions and temperment are expressed there? What
	 tones/styles/moods do you like the best? Are they similar to moods you experience on a daily basis?
	 Are they stonger emotions or more subdued? Do you use music as a release or for venting, or is it
	 merely entertainment? What kind of music do you listen to when you're stressed out? When you find
	 people with similar musical tastes, what other things do you usually have in common with them? What
	 is the connection between your music and your personality?

     C.  Books, especially good fiction novels, are an excellent way to test out your theories about
	 humanity. When you read, pay attention to the stated and unstated motivations for each character.
	 What is it that they really want? The better you get at identifying this, the better you will get
	 at "reading" live people too. Especially significant is when you come across a character that you
	 flat out don't understand or can't sympathize with. That means that either you have an area of
	 introspection which you are neglecting, or the writer simply isn't very good. Taking the effort to
	 figure out which of these two options it is can be very enlightening, regardless of which one it
	 turns out to be.

III.  Pay attention to little things around you, and to the subtlties in the behavior of your acquaintances.

     A.  Critically think about advertising. Think about how the music, the images, and the words they use
	 make you feel. They are often trying to get you to feel that some essential element of your
	 character is being sustained by using their product (such as, you are a good mother if you use our
	 detergeant on your kids clothes). Which values do your favorite and least favorite commercials
	 claim to encourage? Advertisors manipulate their image according to what they think you, the
	 consumer, wants to feel. Think about commericials that work, those that don't, and why. This is
	 good practice in finding ulterior motives and misleading language.

     B.  In the beginning, don't be afraid to use yourself as the standard against which you measure everyone
	 else. This will gaurantee that you will be wrong at times, but if we really require introspection
	 before more general interpretation then this is the only basis we have to start from. Besides,
	 people learn the most from their mistakes. In fact, show off the fact that you don't know what the
	 hell you're talking about. Other people WILL correct you, and, if you are open-minded, you will grow
	 from the experience. Use other people's criticism to refine your scheme of how the world works.

     C.  Talk to people. Most people don't like to be analyzed, but if you ask someone sincerely and directly
	 why they act as they do, it's possible that they just might answer you. Through trial and error
	 you'll learn which people can handle bluntness and which can't, as well as when people can handle
	 inquisitive bluntness. That knowledge alone will later be considered intuitive, and you will have
	 learned to do it systematically!

     D.  Pay attention to other people's physicality, body language, vocal inflection, etc. People unaware of
	 their own body language are usually easier to interpret, as they are giving you hints without even
	 knowing it. Especially guarded people can be more difficult to interpret, but it isn't impossible. At
	 the very least, you should be able to pick up on the fact that they are guarded. You don't have to
	 worry about picking up on everything at once, but keep in the back of your mind the idea that clues
	 are there. Then let yourself take note of them. This will become easier the more it happens.

     E.  Learn more words. Why? you ask. How does this fit in with intuition? Consider this example: Suppose
	 you were feeling bored, unmotivated, emotionally numb, and didn't find anything entertaining; but you
	 weren't sad or depressed. Suppose that you didn't know how to explain what you were feeling, and
	 wondered if others ever felt the same way. Now suppose that you learn the word "jaded," and suddenly
	 you can put a name to what you feel. Not only can you express yourself, but you also now know that
	 other people have had similar experiences, because obviously other people created the word. An
	 expanding vocabulary is an expanding consciouness. You learn to express yourself more effectively and
	 concisely, and your ability to understand other people also grows. The simplest way to do this to
	 subscribe to a Word-A-Day, or buy a Word-A-Day calendar. A second way is to pick up an "expand your
	 vocabulary" book. Finally, you can also learn words through reading, particularly if you look up words
	 that you don't completely understand. I highly, highly recommend doing all of this.

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