my·self [mī-sělf']
-pronoun
"My healthy condition or state"
from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/myself> on Tue 14 Apr 09 at 22:40
Who are our best friends? Who are the people we most enjoy spending time with? Who do we most like to be with?
Whilst saying it seems obvious, it only really struck me the other day that the people I like the most are the people that I can relax most with. The more I can be my honest self, the happier I feel, the more I enjoy myself, the better I enjoy the company.
Where we have freedom to express ourselves without fear of miscommunication or rejection - it's a wonderful place!
Of course, it would be easy to blame everyone else for failing to provide an environment where we can feel free to be ourselves, but perhaps more responsibility lies with us that we are usually willing to accept...
People are familiar with the concept of living behind a mask: pretending to be someone else (see Patrick Lencioni's definition of politics in my previous post). It seems a tragic irony that we often put a face on in order to escape (hide), and yet, in doing do, miss out on the opportunity to experience a greater sense of freedom by finding more of our true selves.
I wonder how often we justify our decisions because we believe we're protecting something, whilst we're actually destroying something far more precious...
How often do we choose a different response to our impulsive reaction because we don't want to risk upset or we fear that someone will see something in us that isn't what we want to portray?
I'm not saying we should all become tactless and hurtful, but perhaps we do more harm to our relationships than we realise by subverting the truth of our feelings and instead erecting a facade that keeps our real feelings hidden?
Perhaps a little more heartfelt honesty would deepen our friendships, give life more intimacy, and enable us to find, and be, more ourselves...
-pronoun
"My healthy condition or state"
from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/myself> on Tue 14 Apr 09 at 22:40
Who are our best friends? Who are the people we most enjoy spending time with? Who do we most like to be with?
Whilst saying it seems obvious, it only really struck me the other day that the people I like the most are the people that I can relax most with. The more I can be my honest self, the happier I feel, the more I enjoy myself, the better I enjoy the company.
Where we have freedom to express ourselves without fear of miscommunication or rejection - it's a wonderful place!
Of course, it would be easy to blame everyone else for failing to provide an environment where we can feel free to be ourselves, but perhaps more responsibility lies with us that we are usually willing to accept...
People are familiar with the concept of living behind a mask: pretending to be someone else (see Patrick Lencioni's definition of politics in my previous post). It seems a tragic irony that we often put a face on in order to escape (hide), and yet, in doing do, miss out on the opportunity to experience a greater sense of freedom by finding more of our true selves.
I wonder how often we justify our decisions because we believe we're protecting something, whilst we're actually destroying something far more precious...
How often do we choose a different response to our impulsive reaction because we don't want to risk upset or we fear that someone will see something in us that isn't what we want to portray?
I'm not saying we should all become tactless and hurtful, but perhaps we do more harm to our relationships than we realise by subverting the truth of our feelings and instead erecting a facade that keeps our real feelings hidden?
Perhaps a little more heartfelt honesty would deepen our friendships, give life more intimacy, and enable us to find, and be, more ourselves...
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