5 Ways to Stay True to your Self

Staying True to your Self ©2014 Joan M. Newcomb

How do you stay in the present moment with your new identity, after going through transformative experiences, around old friends and family members?

Until recently, I lived on an island of about 10,000 people.  I described it as a cross between Andy Griffith's Mayberry, and Northern Exposure's Roslyn (except there were deer, not moose).  It is a timeless place, which gives you grounding, but also a feeling of never changing.  It can be invalidating when you come home after some huge experience and everyone views you through the lens of the past.

Also, how do you hold your sense of Self when life starts to accelerate?

Sometimes we're thrust into times of either hardships or successes, and it can be challenging to hold on to a sense of who we are. (Successes can be as difficult as hardships, if not more so).  The situations may be intended to break you out of old limitations, and may be opportunities to bring out the best in you.

And, along the same lines, how do you stay True to your Essence and inner values in new ventures and around new people?  

You get promoted, or change jobs, you move to across the country, or even overseas. Circumstances which require you to adapt to your new culture, and yet you don't want to lose yourself in the process.

Here are five suggestions that have helped me:

1.  Stay clear.  This may seem like an impossibility in a crises.  Regardless of the emotions going on, there is a part of you that is above them all.  It may be your Observer, it may be the still, small voice within, I like to think of it as my Higher Self.  View the situation from It's perspective.

2.  Stay present. Remind yourself what day it is, how old you are, what your name is.  Don't let circumstances revert you back to childhood.  In the present moment, decisions can be obvious.  Do the next indicated thing.

3.  Stay grounded., If things are changing really fast, you may not want to be grounded, it feels like doing so will slow you down.  You can adjust your grounding, it doesn't have to be a redwood. It can be a laser beam.  I've upgraded my grounding to wifi, a very easy way to stay connected and still vibrating at a higher speed.

4.  Stay not resistant.  Don't fight the river, don't try to change outside circumstances.  People can project towards you, you don't have to act out their projections.   

5.  Stay effortless.  Keep it simple.  If you're trying to hard, you're either spinning your wheels or pushing yourself backwards!  Trust your Expanded Self, the highest aspect of youself, it has your best interest at heart.  

It helps to practice these things *before* challenges come up, so play with these this week and see what happens!