Know Yourself: Define Yourself

Only you know what you can or will become

The foundation of your own self definition will be expressed in your own self image. What you project to the world, and to yourself, reflects how well you understand yourself.

The better this understanding, the greater will be the satisfactions you feel and experience.

Remember, there is nothing obvious or apparent in a caterpillar that foreshadows it becoming a butterfly. Only the caterpillar knows it is going to be a butterfly.

Likewise, only you know and understand what you can or will become.

As Buddha said, "be a lamp unto yourself." This will give you the insight and understanding of a caterpillar. 

Doing so will also help you define yourself, both for the world and to yourself. And defining yourself is something you want to do.

After all, as George Bernard Shaw said, "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

Here are some quotations from our book Project You: Words of Wisdom to help you go about defining and creating yourself: 

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Alan Ashley-Pitt 

How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most. Stephen Covey 

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. Sir Edmund Hillary 

When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. Lao-Tzu 

There is only one success -- to be able to spend your life in your own way. Christopher Morley 

You can judge me all you want. Just keep the verdict to yourself. Steven Howard 

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. African Proverb 

He who is firm in will molds the world to himself. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self. Hindu Proverb 

Dogma is living with the results of other people's thinking. Steve Jobs 

This planet is a laboratory of experiences and an infinite university of potential learning for the evolution of our souls. 

Use your experiences and lessons to cultivate a deeper, richer self understanding and you will enjoy a greater balance and harmony in the spirit of your true (self-defined) self.

This article is partially excerpted from the book Project You: Words of Wisdom, which is available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.