Uncovering Your True Self

Understanding your true nature is a fundamental part of your happiness. We tend to overlook this; instead, we act as who we think we are. We look for our behaviors to correlate with who we think we are rather than what we really are. We act a certain way so that the idea of ourselves is under control and continues to make sense to us. We behave under the assumption that how we have presented ourselves is who we are, but underneath it all is our true self. If this does not correlate with how we see ourselves, then our happiness is further away then we might like to think. Have you ever had someone say to you that you were a certain way or that you had certain qualities, and then you came to identify yourself as such? Perhaps, you chose in the past that some part of yourself was a more complete representation of yourself than it really is.

Often, our perception of ourselves is not our whole person. And without this connection to our whole person, we are existing without being our true self. Our true self is left unidentified in our life, and this tends to leave us feeling empty and a bit deserted. We tend to act out the parts of ourselves we have come to think of as important and without fault, overlooking what is fundamentally our true selves in the process. How do you find out if you are missing some part of yourself or that you are only portraying some parts that may not even be linked to the real you? Simply by asking yourself and then being present and honest with the truth of the answers you give yourself.

As children we identify ourselves with what our parents or other adults say. As we grow up, we listen to our peers and how they view us. Later on in life, it is our friends, our coworkers, and our loved ones that we use to identify ourselves by. But not once do we see ourselves for who we are, without further interpretation from an outside source. Sure, some of us do, but do we do it completely, without any outside observance to help us out? This can be done in the most subtle of ways. Ways in which we may have forgotten or overlooked. If someone said that “you are such a giver”, then do you not assume this is who you are and then must always be? Perhaps you then give too much to compensate for the lack of further understanding about yourself. Can you see the imbalance that can develop?

When we identify ourselves by using outside sources, we are not really connecting to our true selves; instead, we are connecting to ideas given to us. Maybe all that we are is not just a giver but so much more. What if who we are tends to lean in another direction of how we have lived our life thus far, and we were never capable of seeing this, because we were acting out this former idea of self. Do you see how this can happen? In order to become more of who we really are, we must shed our idea of self. Without preconceived notions of who we are, we can then see the truth of ourselves much more clearly. We can let our true selves develop without outside interpretation, for who really knows you as well as you do? What is important is to see the real you so that you can live your life as who you really are. Therefore, you can experience true peace and happiness because there is no internal conflict. There only you being your true self, which is all you ever need to be.