Who we are isn’t the personality traits or behaviors we exhibit, the emotional baggage we carry with us, or the ways we mentally deal with situations in our lives, such as by being lazy, angry, anxious, impatient, etc. Who we are is much deeper than that.
As spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle puts it, who we truly are is not the thoughts we think, the behaviors we have, and the things that we say, but rather we are the observing presence and awareness behind all that we say, do and think. Beyond all of that busy mind stuff, lies a peaceful, present “watcher” of everything that happens at the surface; and this deep, observant, conscious being is who we truly are.
Whatever traits and tendencies we exhibit change throughout our lives. The person I was yesterday is not who I am today. Yesterday I might have been impatient, but I have learned, have grown, and have evolved and so today, I am not that impatient person anymore. So therefore, there is no use in attaching my identity to these fleeting traits and behaviors because they are not who I am.
Key takeaway: Don’t limit yourself to who you think you are just because this is how you have always been; challenge yourself to overcome those parts about yourself that hold you back from reaching your fullest potential i.e. being free, happy, and at peace.
MYTH 2 – Being true to yourself means doing what you want, when you want, and how you want no matter what.
Yes, a big part of being true to yourself is being an independent thinker and doer, not waiting for permission from the world to start doing something. But a mistaken belief is that when you start embracing this way of being, you are suddenly “allowed” to sort of selfishly go about your life without any concern for anything else.
When you are being true to yourself, there is an underlying awareness behind what you think, say and do. Therefore, being true to yourself doesn’t mean you react immediately without thinking, you say whatever is on your mind at all times, and you act impulsively based on your emotions. It also doesn’t mean to have to put others down, take advantage of them, deceive them in some way, harm them, harm yourself, or harm the planet, in order to get and do what you want.
To live authentically means to live true to your higher self, and not to your false self, the ego, which essentially thrives off of being the best at all costs. So when you live true to your higher self, you naturally do what is not just good and beneficial for you, but also what is good and beneficial for the higher good. Your decisions are authentic to you, and you consider the consequences of your actions….
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