It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.
Interpretation
Facing our true selves can be difficult if we haven't lived with integrity.
This quote by Nathaniel Branden highlights the pain that comes from being aware of our true selves while having failed to honor and assert that identity through integrity in our actions and choices. It suggests that self-acceptance and authenticity are crucial for personal growth, and the struggle to align our real selves with our outward behavior can lead to significant emotional discomfort.
In practice
During a motivational speech about self-improvement and integrity.
Living consciously is seeking to be aware of everything that bears on our interests, actions, values, purposes, and goals. It is the willingness to confront facts, pleasant or unpleasant. It is the desire to discover our mistakes and correct them . . . it is the quest to keep expanding our awareness and understanding, both of the world external to self and the world within.
If you are an adult, you are responsible for your life and well-being. No one owes you the fulfillment of your needs or wants; no one is here on earth to serve you. If you respect the principle of self-ownership, you understand that no one else owns you and that you do not own anyone else. Only on this understanding can there be peace on earth and good will among human beings.
It is a mistake to look at someone who is self assertive and say, "It's easy for her, she has good self-esteem." One of the ways you build self-esteem is by being self-assertive when it is not easy to do so. There are always times when self-assertiven ess requires courage, no matter how high your self-esteem.
Living consciously reflects the conviction that sight is preferable to blindness; that respecting the facts of reality is more satisfying than denying them; that evasion does not make the unreal real or the real unreal; that it is better to correct your mistakes that to pretend they do not exist; and that the more conscious you are of facts bearing on your life and goals, the more wisely and effectively you can act.
One of the hardest expressions of self-assertiveness is challenging your limiting beliefs.
How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life β and a commitment to action. Every day, it's important to ask and answer these questions: βWhat's good in my life?β and βWhat needs to be done?
Wear your best for your execution and stand dignified. Your last recourse against randomness is how you act - if you can't control outcomes, you can control the elegance of your behaviour. You will always have the last word.
What would it be like to have not only color vision but culture vision, the ability to see the multiple worlds of others.
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.
Some people possess talent, others are possessed by it. When that happens, a talent becomes a curse.
My teacher Tom Spanbauer, the man who got me started writing in his workshop, used to say: 'Writers write because they weren't invited to a party.' That always struck so true, and people always nod their heads when they hear that. Especially writers.
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