KNOW THYSELF!

"Let me give you some advice: Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like an armor and it shall never be used to hurt you." Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones). Socrates had a maxim: To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom. How then can we know ourselves? Why should we?

Look in the mirror. Whom do you see? Look long enough and you will find yourself a stranger. A stranger lost in the midst of the world of chaos and glamor. Close, then, your eyes and breathe. Silence the clattering of your thoughts and feel your entire being. In the silence, ask: Who am I? Let the still small voice whisper the brutal truth: That you are not who you portray to the world to be. You are a lie crafted and narrated over and over that it's now your truth. You wear a mask of perfection yet you are not. So let us unmask.

Are you really what you say you are? Are you in your truthful path in life? Are you maximizing to your full potential? Do you really like that job? Are you healthy? Are you fit or fat? No, you are not thick! Thick is your brain, and mine, to cover the ever procrastination and fear of being our true essence. The results of our thoughts and actions are evident in our current life situations.

I dare admit that my reluctance to leave in murky situations, relationships in shame to say, have cost me my sanity and perspective in sexuality. My essence spoke truly for me to leave when I opted to stay in "love" and my heart was thinly sliced, placed to the pan, sautéed and done! Even so, my resilience to pursue my fears and yet admirable ventures have paid me my dues. So to say, from inner observation, the voice speaks in favor of, never against, the being. Listen to it.

Heck! Before you put down your New Year's goals, that will never see the light of the dawn, ask within you if that is what you truly are and want or are you adding a mask to fit in the social norm in the fear of missing out. Be you! The literature, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, one of my favorites, says that men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Isn't it crucial then to know who we are so as to understand that which life gives to us?

Thoughts become things. Know your desires. Know your fears. Know your own core values that you live by. Know how and when to love. Know the company that extracts the best of you. Know your present. Know your thoughts. Know thyself! The Solomonic wisdom in Proverbs, so I read, says: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Have a truthful New year.