Value your identity

Our past as many would argue is always going to be a huge part of our life. The sad part is a majority of the memories we remember are those in which our lives were at an all time low. This can be a certain failure, heartbreak or some other catastrophic event. Continuously replaying such events unintentionally molds us into the people we are and would result in loss of confidence, depression and just a general lack of purpose or value in life. If these things don't shape us then the constant criticism we receive from friends and family molds us unfortunately. A number of people are the way they are simply because of what was said or what happened to them that they can not let go of. Holding on to such negative emotions not only has its toll on your emotional and mental well  being but it also has some effect even on your physical well being. The most powerful thing in the world is to be consistent with the thoughts values that you believe to be true about you. In my view identity is the ruling power that governs every aspect of your life and the direction in which it will go.

 Now imagine a child growing up with identity issues where society tells them that they are not enough or that they just don't fit the mold of being an important or acceptable member of society. That child will grow up to be a broken, unconfident and purposeless adult who just drifts in life and is generally uninterested in life. Before you proceed with this week's blog just ask yourself these questions and give yourself an honest answer :

1. Do you know who you are?

2. Has society told you who you are?

3. Have you believed what everyone has said about you?

4. Are you happy with society's definition of you?

5. Who are you?

For a greater part of my short existence on God's green earth i have found it difficult and almost impossible to give honest and definite answers for those questions and that is because I spent my whole life being told different things by different people which led me to be a different person around different people. In other words I was drifting through life with no general purpose. This in my view was largely due to the fact that I had no idea who I was and I did not have a clear view on what my identity was. Ed Mylett likens our identity to a thermostat placed on a wall. The thermostat is set to a certain temperature and no matter what the external weather is like, the thermostat always maintains that temperature. This just simply shows that our lives are not determined by external factors but rather like the thermostat our lives are determined by the temperature that we have set within ourselves which is our identity. 

 Here are a few tips:

• Associate yourself with people who are where you want to be
  The power of association is true and it is very crucial in our day to day lives. the people who you surround yourself indirectly influence who you become so one should associate themselves with the type  of people they want to be and in the long run those people will have an effect on the other person's lives
• Choose to actively improve your daily routine to suit where you want to be
  No that you know who you are...selectively choose the habits that will help mold you into the best version of yourself . Do what you love more and do what you feel is right.
• Be careful what you believe
  Everyone is always going to have an opinion about you and that is alright. It is human nature anyway to judge what they do not understand and condemn it. For you it is ok because a majority of those people don't know who they are as well so see it as you breaking a toxic cycle. So be careful what you believe because not everything that is said about you is true.
• Stop being who you are not
  You are not what society says you are, you are not your look, your intelligence, your friends, your gender, your race, your weight, your background or any other external factor. You are who you think you are and nothing else matters. The key in life is to know yourself and believe that to be true and indeed it will come true.

For those who have been through the most in their lives and feel as if life and society has completely abandoned them remember "See what great love the father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God and that is what we are" 1 John 3 vs 1. Have a blessed week and Thank God its Monday