The True Self

Think of your heart as a special compass that always points to what is right for you. When you are all alone, you do not have to pretend to be a superhero or a perfect student; you can just be exactly who you are. This part of you is like a secret garden that grows even when no one is looking at it. By being kind to yourself when you are alone, you learn how to be a better friend to everyone else. You are special because there is only one you in the whole universe.

There is only one you in the whole universe. Not one like you. One of you. The odds of your exact genetic combination existing are one in four hundred trillion. You are not rare. You are impossible. And yet here you are. Sitting in a chair. Reading these words. Breathing without being asked to. The true self is not the self you show people. The true self is the self that exists when no one is asking you to exist. It is the part that hums in the shower. That stares out the window for no reason. That knows what it wants before the brain gets involved. The compass does not lie. But it only works when you stop letting other people hold it.

Rogers' organismic valuing process: the internal compass that guides growth toward fulfillment when uncorrupted by conditions of worth. The compass does not lie. But it only works when you stop letting other people hold it.

SOUND: The steady rhythmic beat of your own heart in a silent room: the sound of the self before anyone else showed up.

SMELL: The scent of your own home or your favorite childhood blanket: the smell of the place where you do not perform.

TASTE: Cool clear water that refreshes you from the inside out: the taste of nothing pretending to be something else.

TOUCH: Pressing your palms together and feeling the warmth you create: the self meeting the self with nothing in between.

SIGHT: Watching your chest rise and fall as you breathe: the visible proof that something inside you is running without permission.

BODY: Feeling the weight of your body sitting firmly in a chair: gravity confirming you are real before anyone else does.

Music: Call It Dreaming by Iron & Wine

Music: Bent by Matchbox Twenty

Music: Dream On by Aerosmith

Music: Burnin' For You by Blue Öyster Cult

Music: Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash

Part of Identity & The Self — CONSCIOUSNESS — Education Revelation