And today I’m about to air one of my little secrets.
I got to read what I like to call the ‘rubbish’ magazines at the local hair salon.
I was reading about an actress (a hint as to what the rubbish magazines are) of whom it was said she would always worry about what people thought about her.
And I remembered when. I remembered when it used to bother me what people thought…in fact…full confession… I have been and still have moments of actually being a people pleaser!
Don’t allow others to determine who you are
What a waste of my precious time. It took quite a few years before I fully realized that what was really important wasn’t what other people thought of me, but what I thought of myself. My very own self concept.
You have to decide who you actually are, before you can begin to trust what you think about you.
The most powerful words we have at our disposal are I AM. I Am are the words that rearrange our consciousness to form a new experience. Everything depends upon the attitude we have of ourselves…or who we say we are.
The image we hold in our mind is the explanation for the phenomena of all life. As we say I am strong, I am secure, I am loved we determine the world in which we live.
I am a man, a woman, a husband, a wife, a mother simply defines different arrangements of consciousness, and behind it all is the awareness that I Am. Before we decide we are man, woman, happy, safe, respected, we know that we are, that we exist. We know “I Am”. And from there we condition this awareness of being, this I Am, by saying I am rich, I am poor, I am sick, I am happy, I am afraid.
Assume your reality
There is no reality in the world other than your consciousness. Although you may now seem to be what you might not want to be, all you need do to change it, and to prove the change by the new circumstances in your world, is to quietly assume that you are that which you now want to be, and in a way we can’t know you will become it.
We only have one gift that is truly ours to give and that is ourselves. Unless you yourself are that which you wish the world to see, it can never be seen in this world.
Final thoughts
It doesn’t matter a jot what anyone says about you, or who they think you are or what you’re capable, or not capable of doing. If they don’t/can’t see you as the amazing, truly wonderful person you are, ignore them. They don’t know the half of it…they’re only expressing some old view you had of yourself and as you assume you are exactly who you desire to be…they soon will only be able to see this new, brilliant you.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle.
xoxo
Love this! I think not caring what others think comes with age; at least it does for me. When we become more comfortable with ourselves, perhaps that’s when we start caring less what others think. Although I think it is intriguing to know how we are perceived and received by the outside world.
For me, I’ve come much more into my ‘true’ selve and become much more ‘riskee’ as I’ve hit mid-age. As the saying goes, if not now, when.
You have a great point there Harriet. I also think as we begin to pay attention to the way the laws of life work we start to take a deeper look at our reflections and recognize we have the power to experience life and be experienced differently. As you say, if not now, when?
I have to agree with Harriet. It has taken me a while to get comfortable in my own skin.
“You have to decide who you actually are, before you can begin to trust what you think about you.”
That line hit me between the eyes. Reading that made me realize that I don’t fully trust what I think about myself. Time to do some work there.
I always get an ‘aha!’ thought from reading your posts Elle. Thank you!
Thank YOU Paige…I love the conversation that takes place right here in the comments section and I’m grateful for your participation. 🙂
Ah, my favorite man in the mirror concept. My Mother always said that if we can wake up each morning, look in the mirror and say I love you without hesitation, we’re going to be fine. The “without hesitation” is the important thing.
Harriet has a point about time playing a role in our learning to accept and love ourselves. 🙂 Caring what others think is so deeply ingrained in us that it takes some earth-shattering experiences to get out of that mold.
Lovely post as always, Elle. I’d love to see a photo of you.
I think the ‘man in the mirror’ from your Mum is wonderful Vidya…what a great vizual.
Hi to all, This is really a nice post…. hmm…i was also among one of its pray.. “WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT ME”…. But with time also experienced a joy of being “I AM”. My best positive Quotes for this problem are “I AM THE BEST” and ” I AM COMPLETE”. We know who we are. Others can only make an assumption about us which might be Positive or Negative for us … Most of the time NEGATIVE… We really need not to think about it .. because as ELLE said…. they hardly knows ..the half of it…. We also need not to prove ourself because we know We Are… The Brilliant one…. by nature.
Great I AM statements Amy…funny thing is we’re saying I am to ourselves all the time and as you say let’s keep them positive. 🙂
You explain this concept so beautifully. Now that I am ‘middle aged’, I sometimes wonder if it should have taken me this long to figure out who I am. Oh well, at least I know now.
What a great thing to teach our kids and grandkids when we have them! They can start knowing the brilliant beings they are from day one. Wow, what a wonderful world. 🙂
I once had someone tell me that the true purpose of our time on this earth was to become the greatest gift to God that we could. It’s the essence of that opinion and your article . . . developing and expanding my own self-concept unfettered by the lines and limitations of others . . . that I find to be such a wonderful oasis. Thank you !
Write on, Elle !
Yes, Joseph and you are a great gift to our ongoing conversation about exactly that…expanding ourselves into every greater beings, with ever greater experiences. Thank you. 🙂