know thyself tattoo – in honor of all that has gone before that served as school
private vs public
A friend of mine just posted a quote by the Dalai Lama: “I don’t think a person should have two sides – a public and a private side. There should be no gap; that is not honest. ” Dalai Lama. Interesting, don’t you think?
It seems to me that the antidote to this dishonesty is to cultivate an awareness of our authentic self and to allow that to govern our decisions and behavior and therefore what people see of us. Should it matter where we are or who we’re with? The truer we are to ourselves the more likely we are to succeed in life. Maybe its not even possible without it.
Is there a correlation between when we are most effective and when we “show up” most genuinely? Ken Robinson is pretty emphatic about this point in his book, the Element.
Ken Robinson discussing “the Element”
Ultimately, then, the process of figuring out what we love (our passions) and what we’re good at (our skills) and bringing them into a state of synchronicity is essential for authentic self development. I guess you could call that the antidote defined.
photo credit: Rolf Gibbs
