Hey Daily Lovers! I just got back to L.A. after ten amazing days in Manhattan. Celebrating the New Year there was a blast and I actually enjoyed the cold weather (probably only because I don’t endure it year round). I also taught a sold out goals-setting workshop and spoke at an incredible event about intuition. At both my workshop and talk, I asked the audience the question, “Who am I?” I like asking this because most people don’t know how to answer this question accurately.
Today I am sharing with you what I shared with the awesome New Yorkers I met about how to accurately answer the question, “Who am I?” in a way that will give you incredible insight into your TRUE self. We all get asked the question, “What do you do?” frequently. And most of us have an automatic response. Personally, this question is not interesting to me. I’d much rather know who someone is rather than what they do.
So, who are you? Go ahead and answer the question in your mind. Take a moment to either think through it, or better yet, write down your answer before reading on.
If you are like 99% of the people I speak to, you most likely answered by listing the roles you play in life, or even the labels you’ve acquired to identify yourself based on where you are from or what you’ve been through. For example: I am an actor, a lawyer, a wife, a son, a student, a procrastinator, an addict, a teacher, a role model, have ADD, a graduate from xyz school, a 29-year-old, a Texan, Jewish, Christian, Latin, a cancer survivor, and so on and so on. The list is endless in terms of how we identify ourselves. But roles we play, things we do, cultures we come from, or labels we put on ourselves are NOT accurate answers to the question of who I am.
You are not what you do. You are not who you are with. You are not the roles you play in life. You are not your family, religion or race. You are not your age. You are not your gender. You are not your resume of jobs, interests and experiences.
So who are you? Here’s how I teach people how to accurately answer this question. Think about something you absolutely LOVE doing. When you do this thing time stops. You are totally present, engaged and enjoying yourself. Now here is the KEY: what is important is not the activity, but rather what qualities come out of you while you are doing it. Take another moment to consider this and write down your answers. List all the ways of being that you experience when you are engaged in something you love.
I LOVE facilitating and coaching people and when I’m doing it, I am compassionate, inspired, creative, committed, generous, connected, sensitive, authentic, playful, thoughtful, giving, present, inquisitive, wise, nurturing, feminine and loving. THAT is who I am. I am not a coach and speaker; those are just the FORMS my essence takes. I also LOVE being with my nephew and the exact same qualities come forward whenever I am with him, so please don’t think that you have to pick something that is tied to a job to do this exercise.
We get way to obsessed with form and want to know what we are supposed to DO as our life’s purpose. Your purpose is not something you can do, it is only something you can BE. And when you know who you truly are and bring forward those qualities that are your true essence more and more in EVERYTHING you do, the more you will attract the forms that are most aligned with who you really are.
Stop trying to be someone you think you should be, or someone you think other people think you should be, or someone you think other people want you to be (did you get all that?!?!). And please stop identifying yourself by the things you do or roles you play in life. Your essence is FAR more interesting and attractive!!
Much love,
Christine
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Christine Hassler is an author, speaker, life coach and spiritual counselor dedicated to helping people answer the questions who am I, what do I want and how do I get it? You can check out her website here: http://www.christinehassler.com/
