When you strip away all the extra stuff, the flash, the hobbies - what is the ONE THING that defines you?
Your hobbies
The way you dress
The stuff you own
What you say about yourself
What others say about you
Your company's reputation
Your reputation as good or bad company
Your pets
Your pet peeves
What you drive
What drives you
You significant other
Your other significant others



















Let's see. Keep peeling away all those attributes that you've picked up over the years, including the way you dress, your reputation and what you drive. Makes a terrific amount of sense. We've all been taught the belief that who we are is defined or explained by an “inner core” or a “true self.” Traditional psych even tells us that we’ve formed a relatively stable personality structure with specific attitudes, preferences and values.
I beg to disagree.
Digging down is peeling away the layers you’ve accumulated. When you peel away enough layers, it’s like peeling away the layers of an onion. When you get to the bottom there’s nothing there.
Fact of the matter is that there's not one true self, but a lot of selves. As Hazel Markus of Stanford puts it, there's a whole cast of characters in our hearts and minds. That sure puts a lot of color into who we can become. http://bit.ly/zphg2
Posted by: Dan Erwin | September 19, 2009 at 04:13 PM