“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the measure fears most people have in the world is the fear of solitude. This is the fear of being alone, the fear of coming face to face with yourself. Solitude poses three questions,
Who Are You? Why Are You Here (on Earth)? And What Are You Doing About It?
These questions have proven to be troublesome throughout human-history. This has resulted in a multitude of people dying having never lived.
How you answer the first question (Who Am I?) determines your attitude towards life which is how you will show up in life. Your attitude surely determines your altitude. This creates a self-image which is how you see yourself in your mind. This self-image becomes your identity. In the fight, known as the fight of the century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971, Muhammad Ali was knocked down in one of the rounds but quickly jumped back up. When he was asked later as to why he quickly jumped back up, he replied by saying, “When I looked where I was, a canvass was no place for a champion.” He was driven by his identity, the image of himself as a champion of the world that was deeply planted in his subconscious mind. How you define and see yourself is very important. It is this image that only yourself can see that drives your behaviour which is known for producing results. Behaviour though, I must emphasise, is only a secondary cause that produce results. The primary cause is self-image.
You can’t permanently change your behaviour without changing your self-image. Your self-image is the GPS and your behaviour is the driver. It doesn’t matter how good and experienced the driver is but if the given directions are incorrect, the driver will surely get lost over and over again and ultimately get frustrated. The driver is unfortunately always blamed for getting lost, but the main culprit is the GPS he is using. Most people claim to be knowing what they want and where they are going but they never reach the desired destination simply because their GPS is set incorrectly.
We are all conditioned from the day we are born into this world and this conditioning is not mostly in line with who we are supposed to be. To me, we are instruments of service to humanity. We are here to share our gifts, talents and abilities. Your daily responsibility which should come with great sense of urgency is to search for your strengths, if you haven’t found them, because in your strengths you will find your gifts, talents and abilities. This can only come when you embrace solitude and learn more about yourself. There is no school in the world that will teach you about yourself, you have to do it yourself through self-awareness. The important question is, what are the things that directly connect you with peace of mind, serenity and make you lose sense of time when you do them? You’ll often find the answer when you go offline or disconnected from the world’s distractions.
Veli Ndaba is a leadership and Insightful Speaker, Life-Coach and Neuro- Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Author of two books (You Are Born to Win and Your Dream is Calling You), Newspaper Columnist and Entrepreneur. To book him to help you and your team unleash your greatness, contact him on veli@velindaba.co.za, www.velindaba.co.za and 083 304 9773
