Nurturing your sense of self.
Who are you? You are not your name, because that can be changed. You are not your nationality, because technology is breaking down the idea of nations into a global community of ideas. You are not what you do, because that may not be what you chose, or what you want to do anymore.
You are not necessarily your religion or creed, because that can be changed or professed by those who only go through the motions. You are not the car that you drive, because that could be owned, or a gift, or purchased with borrowed money that might never be repaid. You are not the residence you live in, the clothes you wear or the phone you carry.
The truth of you is who you are inside your head, when the lights go down, when the people are gone, and the voice of your reality whispers to you in the darkness.
This is who I am.
But often that’s a lie too. Because so many people are not even their truest selves in the quiet places of their own minds because they believe the ideas of others, rather than reasoning out their own opinions, and changing their behaviors through envisioning, meditation, practicing and becoming.
Your sense of yourself is the greatest prize you carry. Properly nurtured, strengthened and sharpened into a powerful force, your self-sense or your eye-dentity is the manifestation of what you see as the sum of your strengths and gifts.
Coupled with a determined will, that has grown through trial and temptation, your self-sense charts your course through your earthly days.
If your self-sense is weakened through the falsehoods of others, only you can cast them out. If you have allowed your opinions to be shaped by the dogma of others, rather than your own studied and reasoned views, you can begin now to become yourself anew, through study, meditation and determined judgment.
If you truly desire to become the person you can be, you must strengthen your self-sense so that it can withstand the storms of the world, the doubts of the fearful and the wickedness of those who would bring you down.
If you don’t know who you are, that’s the perfect place to start. Decide to start understanding what you like, what you believe and who you are.
Learn yourself, change yourself as you find necessary (not to the judgment of others) and be willing to withstand trial and hardship to become the you who can serve the world.
Your sense of who you really are is the most precious gift you can ever give yourself. It will bring you greater peace, happiness and fulfillment if you take care of it.
I believe you are amazing. I really do. You just need to do the work to believe it as well.
-- Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings