Just be You or, better not?

Just be you or, better not? What an odd question you might think.

Shouldn’t we always be ourselves and thus our authentic self?

From one question to another as now the question arises: who am I?

In my case, I am a daughter, a lover, a soul sister, a meditation teacher, a partner, a coach, a friend, a foreigner here in Portugal, I am Dutch and I am a yoga teacher.

Add to that that I am passionate and at the moment, I would say that I am slightly hungry. There is more to say but even with another line, or ten extra lines, is this who I am? Would that summarize all of me?

In my book, Flex Your Mind, I wrote a whole chapter on this. Self-inquiry is one the ten Yoga principles, described by Patanjali in his Yoga sutras. Becoming more aware of and taking the time to observe yourself, your actions and your being. Not from an egocentric point of view, on the contrary, it is for the benefit of yourself and others that we explore our minds.

Fitting in

“I am not what I think I am and I am not what you think I am.
I am what I think you think I am.”
Truly diving into Mr Cooley’s quote would bring us a bit too far in this blog but we do look at ourselves, mainly being very concerned of what others think of us.

The whole time, most of us, just want to fit in and belong. Which is absolutely normal, this is human nature, and you can take that back, a whole way back. As humans, we’ve always been roaming around on this planet in groups, not alone.

How incredibly nice is it when you meet someone or a group of people who ‘get you’?

The weirdness within me sees and greets the weirdness within you?! As in, the meaning of ‘namaste’ in a very modern way 🙂 (Namaste is Sanskrit for the divine in me, sees and honours the divine in you).

You are perfect

We are all perfect. In the core, absolutely nothing needs to change about any of us. Maybe you have certain habits that do not serve you, like eating habits or thinking patterns. That is different, that is something that you might consider changing to feel better or even better but in the core, again, no need for change. This means that all the self-help and personal development books out there need to be rewritten as the first chapter needs to be: you are perfect.

Let’s not forget this!

Having this knowledge of fully realising that we have the urge to fit in and, knowing that we are perfect, the question that I asked all the way in the beginning: just be you or, better not?
I hope you will answer that with: of course I will be me! Who else to be? I am perfect !

Rachel Bonkink

As a former COO, Rachel is on a mission to support as many people as possible in their journey to less anxiety and more joy. She teaches meditation and yoga and has been a mindset coach for over 15 years. She is the author of Flex your Mind, 10 Yoga principles for less stress in a busy world. www.rachelbonkink.com

Rachel welcomes any and all questions via Instagram, @rachelbonkink