Title: Shrinky's Guide to happiness: Becoming Your True Self

We are all looking to end our emotional suffering and solve our life's problems. We long to answer: How can we find love, stop being so anxious, lose weight, make money, have more energy, have a better marriage, raise happy children?

The answer to our life's problems is simple. The reason we suffer is because we have lost contact with our true selves. Let's find out what it means to be our true self, and how to live the best life we can have.

Who is our 'true self?' We are all meant to be wise, passionate, strong, creative, and loving. All of this is within us. This means that we already have everything we need to solve our problems. We may not be able to control everything in the universe, but our best chance of getting what we want in life is through our own efforts.

How do we find our 'true self?' Here are the five steps.

1. Commitment
Finding true fulfillment begins with putting all of our energy into becoming our true self. This total involvement is more important than anything specific thing we do.

2. Learn
Becoming what you are meant to be takes daily study. Read what great people have to say. Listen to music, watch movies, read fiction. Spend time in nature. Learn about the most interesting subject in the world, you. If you search, you will find the answer wherever you look.

3. Heal
None of escaped our childhoods without some emotional wounds. The next step in finding your true self is to heal those wounds. It also means helping others heal from the wounds we have caused. When we do that we can transform our self-hate into self-love.

4. Envision
Practice creating a picture of who your true self is. The clearer you can see it, the more likely you are to be it.

5. Do
The final step in finding your true self is to take action now. The most important thing we can do is to connect with others. We need to learn how to speak from our hearts and truly listen. In this way we express our needs in healthy ways and meet the needs of others. In order to find our true self we also must care for the self's temple, our body. Through nutrition and exercise we can optimize energy, mood, health and well-being. Finally, we must live with integrity and do the right thing. When what we want to do and what we should do are in harmony, then we have inner peace. When we are our true selves, we know the good from the inside. What we find there is compassion. This gives us the courage to always do the right thing, no matter the risk. Once we act from our best self we find that we have an endless stream of energy. No fear of rejection or failure can stop us. We can do anything.

Our True Self
What will our life be like when we are our true self? This may be an ideal that we can only imagine, but it is certainly worth the effort to work toward this end. We have great, passionate, intimate relationships. We do work we love. We become prosperous. We are healthy in mind, body and spirit. We look great and have our best body. We live a long and energetic life. We raise happy children. We find true success, living out our meaning and purpose. We give and receive infinitely increasing love. We contribute to the healing of the planet. We find deep spirituality and a live a life of connectedness to the all.