Quips and Tips for Spiritual Seekers

Who are you beyond your life roles? As you discover yourself beyond all the roles you play, masks you wear and ideologies you invest in, you touch into the truth of who you are: a spacious, eternal spiritual being. Living life from your authentic self is liberating. You release petty  judgments, become bigger than others’ opinions of you, love yourself fully, and feel free to make choices based on your highest truth.

To get to this pure state of freedom involves letting go of who you’re not. It can be daunting to look past the habits you’ve clung to, go further than beliefs you were handed, and dig deeper than the identities you’ve developed. As Alan Alda once said:

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”

Are you willing to step into unknown territory in order to discover your true self? If so, read on. And for a further spiritual exploration on this topic, read What is Self? A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness.

Tools for Self-Discovery

Here are 4 tools to play with as a way to discover who you are underneath the weight of who you’re not.

1. Look past judgments and opinions. We grow up being indoctrinated in certain beliefs which lead to judgments and opinions. Overtime we create identities for ourselves based on these. Notice what you judge in yourself and others. Look past your judgments of others to see who the person is underneath. Touch into the space of stillness behind the judgments you have about yourself. Who are you without judgments?

2. Take a break from roles. We each have important roles to play in life. Some of us are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sisters, wives, husbands, daughters, sons, and so on. We also have the work we do for a living. If we don’t take a break from these roles, we believe we are them. You may be a parent or a spouse at this moment, and you may play this role for the rest of your life, but you are much more than this. Who were you before this role? Who will you be if this role ends? Touch into who you are beyond these roles. This will help you to live more authentically within these roles.

3. Drop your masks. What masks do you wear in public? Are you a people pleaser at work? Do you dawn the mask of victim or scapegoat with your family? Perhaps you prefer to wear the mask of a hero, caretaker or over responsible one? Again, these are not who you are, just personas you step into the same way an actor takes on a role he’s playing in a movie. The only difference is the actor knows it’s not him. Notice the masks you wear and be willing to take these off and just be yourself. This may mean finding healthier ways to meet your underlying needs for attention, approval and love. Once you do this, you will own your power and never again give it away.

4. Touch into your true self. Take time for yourself each day away from work, family, friends and other responsibilities to soak in the inner richness of self-discovery. It may be half an hour at the beach bathing in the warmth of sun, smelling the mix of salt and sand, listening to the call of a seagull. Maybe you’ll discover yourself as you walk among green shrubs and fir trees along a forest path. Even just sitting in silence with eyes closed for a quick meditation break will help you to touch into your true self.

Give yourself the gift of knowing who you are beyond your life roles by playing with the above suggestions.

Do you have any other ideas for how to discover yourself? Please share these below in the reply section.