Exactly... and therein lies the difficulty: "standing apart from yourself." I guess that's why vocalizing your thoughts aloud to a confidant can help you "see" your thoughts outside your head.
That's why writing a blog is such a great idea. If you keep one not for marketing but just for personal thoughts, you find that you learn more about yourself than you'd expect. (I'm nearing my blog's one-year anniversary, and I find that writing in it has really solidified a lot of my views, among other things.)