Becoming Yourself: Part 1

Today we begin the journey. The journey will go on for the rest of your life, and indeed you have always been on this journey, but today you embark on it consciously. Today begins the realization that you define who you are and what reality is. These things will change everyday, but if you are aware then you are in control.

Let us begin.

In order to achieve autonomy we must know who we are to ourselves. This is really the only being that matters. By knowing and loving who we are, others will see this self love and in turn love and respect us. However, all too often people hide who they are for many reasons, and this hidden self also comes through and people cannot truly love us, but accept the facade we present them. There is nothing contagious or admirable about a hidden self, it is in fact destructive. Today begin to be constructive of ourselves and therefore to and for other people.

Take a little sheet of paper or open any type of word document.
Now write your name or whatever you want to be called. Then begin to define yourself. You can use single words, phrases, sentences, whatever is needed and try to be exhaustive in your list. Mine is as follows:

James Parks
Male; young; adventurous; student; middle class; enjoys reading, philosophy, theology, music, theatre, conversation, movies, meditation, walking, exploring; spiritual student; chubby; loving; friendly; funny; leader; liberal; open-minded; tired; happy; oldest child; Caucasian; independent; musician; teacher; fun; American.

The list of course can go on, and throughout the day I invite you to return and add to your list as things do come to you.

This list is usually a mixture of how you define yourself and how society has defined you.
From my list society is responsible for seven of the supplied definitions: male, young, middle class, liberal, oldest child, Caucasian, and American. You may think these are all facts of life, but in fact these are facts of society which are not facts at all. Some could say that all of my above definitions are designed by society and to some extent that is true, but these seven are given to me by society not myself.

As an exercise take out all of societies definitions and have a list that is merely how you define yourself. This is the person you have decided you are today. Is this who other people know? Is this who you want to be? Are there words that you would rather have on the list? Do these words change? Chances are these words change regularly and people catch glimpses of this person, but not the whole being. So lets define the whole being.

Look at your list and think about who you truly are and truly want to be. Realize you can be whatever you want. There are no limits but the ones you apply to yourself, and my mission is to free you of those limits. Take another piece of paper and write:

My Name is ___________
I am everything I wish to be.
I love myself. I am proud of myself.
Today I am free of all others and myself.
Today I am free to be me.

You may want to print this on a bunch of pieces of paper and stick them in your wallet, desks, drawers, or anywhere you will come in contact with them. This is your motto. It may seem silly, but it is the road to freedom and self love. It is the road to an amazing tomorrow. It is the road to yourself.