How to excel in every aspect of your life by being authentic.

This post was written by Ashley Berges

Dedicated to YOU!
How to excel in every aspect of your life by being authentic.

Chapter six, Be yourself and by the way, who are you, of Live Your True Life, addresses the all-important concept of self. You… Who are you?

When you know who you are, you act accordingly. When you don’t understand your self, you can’t begin to understand others.

Who are you and why do you categorize or identify your self as so? What makes you laugh, smile, and cry? What truly makes you, you?

Internal insight plays a large part in putting the self-understanding pieces together. Because we all come from the same source, we aren’t completely different from anyone else. We can identify the pieces of ourselves we see in others. When we meet people, we can quickly develop connections quickly when we are similar in nature and have some of the same qualities. On the other hand, it might be more difficult to establish a friendship or understanding with someone who appears to be opposite or different from us. With that understanding, we can learn from everyone we meet and everyone has something to teach us and everyone has something to learn.

What makes you a unique individual?

What do you value? Our personal values make us unique because our values define our motives for our actions and our way of life.
What do you value? What do you place absolute no value upon? When we think of the things we value we tend to think of life, animals, people, the environment, etc. We use our personal values to determine our actions. Example: If we value animals and their rights, were not going to do anything that would harm an animal, and we may donate monetary funds to organizations like the SPCA or PETA. We may even go a step further and donate our time and talent to these organizations. When we are driving down a street and see a homeless animal, we will stop and see if we can help the animal.

Do we express our values in everything we do? When it comes to standing up for what we believe in…Do we stand up and be counted or let others do it for us? When is comes to saying out loud and expressing ourselves truthfully, do we?

What about when it comes to social media like: Facebook, LinkedIn, Tweeter, etc., are we honest and truthful in our posts and status updates? Do we feel like we need to impress people to make them like us more? Or are you, you? Do you post how you are truly feeling, thinking, and the quirky things that make you unique? Or do you only post when you are taking an exotic trip, buying a new car, or going back-stage at a sold out concert?

Do you sometimes look at Facebook and read what everyone else is doing and get a little sad about your life? Do you feel that you are missing out and probably the only one not invited to a party on any given Saturday? Many of us take Facebook at face value and not factor in the human condition and what makes people do the things they do. Also, we can’t judge our life by what others are supposedly doing. When you look at Facebook, you have to remember not to judge your life against theirs. When you think of trading places with someone, you must think of all the things that go with that person. At this time, there is not a human that I would trade places with. Yes, some people have more money, more toys, and supposedly more fun but I don’t want what that comes with. Remember what you offer and don’t allow the Facebook blues to get you down. Facebook and other social media platforms is just one outlet to show and tell others about us.

How we appear and act in public is a large part of our life’s interaction and in order to live truly we must be genuine in our interactions with others. Just like online communication, when we are genuine and authentic it shines through. Being authentic might not show the most bling bling and have the most interesting status update or in person meet and greet but it is authentic and true and lasts the tests of time.

We must not live for others but for ourselves. It is not being better than others but being better than ourselves every day and moving up instead of moving back or stagnating. The idea that there is not enough to go around is ludicrous and only causes people to be greedy and scared of others. We see others as a threat instead an ally. In order to live true to ourselves and have a happy, healthy, and successful life, we must allow others to succeed and help them in any way we can because their success gives you/us success. We’ve all had a few people take advantage of us and use our good-natured help for their own gain, but if you truly think about those people, were they truly successful? Were those the people you should have been spending time with?

At this time, you have moved on and cleaned house with regards to the people in your life that were users, energy suckers, and only in your life for material or emotional gain. Surround your self with the people who have similar values to you. When people have similar values, they understand each other and understand what is important to each other and the relationship. Remember that you are as good as the people you surround your self with. Don’t be fooled that you can surround your self with people who have no values and it won’t wear off on you to some degree.