Unique Self Expression
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
–Dr. Seuss
Each person had only one genuine vocation -- to find the way to himself. . . . One's task was to discover one's own destiny -- not an arbitrary one -- and to live it out wholly and resolutely within oneself. Everything else was only a would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity, and fear of one's own inwardness.
–Herman Hesse, in his novel Demian
It is finally when you let go of what people expect you to be and people's perceptions of you that you're able to be the version of yourself that you're supposed to be-- like in God's eyes. It doesn't matter if you're half crazy, or eccentric, or whatever it is-- that you have to be true to who you were born to be.
–Gwyneth Paltrow
Do not carry the burden of the past; do not live in the future. The only important thing is that one lives in the present authentically and fully. Whatever your current life is, be the most you can be by living in the moment.
–Chan Chih
The task is to recognize that you are uniquely special, have something to give, some talent no one else shares in quite the same way. This gift needs to blossom so we can appreciate and enjoy the benefits of it and acknowledge you for it. You owe this to yourself and to all of us to honor your gifts, for only when you share your unique joy with the world does the entire world benefit. Every advance mankind has known has come because of someone's effort. Don't let shyness rob you and the world of the power and the passion that lies within you. No one can be all that you will be except you yourself. Follow your passion.
–Joel Garfinkle
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.
–Richard Bach
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
–William James
The eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Herder taught that each person has an original and unique manner of being human. The task is to develop it. According to Nietzsche, a person is known by his or her "style," that is, by the unique pattern that gives unity and distinctiveness to a person's activities. Style articulates the uniqueness of the self. Rather than fitting one's life into the demands of external conformity, rather than living one's life as an imitation of the life of another, one should look to find the authentic self within. One should labor to develop one's own unique style in crafting one's soul. An individual who denies his or her own individuality articulates life with a voice other than that which is uniquely his or her own. A person who suppresses his or her own self is in danger of missing the point of his or her own existence, of surrendering what being human means.
–Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, in Crafting the Soul
Once you accept and rejoice in your authenticity, you begin to see things as YOU are. You begin to see the authentic self is the Soul made visible. Godspeed on your journey to wholeness.
–Sarah Ban Breathnach
The more authentic you become, the more genuine in your expression, particularly regarding personal experiences and even self-doubts, the more people can relate to your expression and the safer it makes them feel to express themselves. That expression in turn feeds back on the other person's spirit, and genuine creative empathy takes place, producing new insights and learnings.
–Stephen Covey
We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity.
–Barbara De Angelis
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
–W.H. Auden
If you seek authenticity for authenticity's sake you are no longer authentic.
–Jean-Paul Sartre
You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn't try to be a tiger, and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't. You are a process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are and create that creature. You still won't be perfect, but success isn't about perfection--it is about authenticity. You are a success if you are being your real, authentic self.
–Bernie Siegel
I believe one of our souls' major purposes is to know, love, and express our authentic selves. To live the life and be the person we were created to be. However, our true selves only emerge when it's safe to do so. Self-condemnation, shame, and guilt send your true nature into hiding. It's only in the safety of gentle curiosity, encouragement, and self-love that your soul can bloom as it was created to do.
–Sue Patton Thoele
Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on the mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays
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