“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Polonius, Hamlet, William Shakespeare

You cannot control how people feel about you or treat you. Ultimately, this is beyond your control.

You might do all the “right” things: be honest, kind, faithful, interesting, adventurous, amazing, add value, etc. … and they can still grow to dislike you, be bored of you, use you, betray you, hate you.

Therefore, do not put any equity into those emotional anchors designed to drag you down and keep you fettered to someone else’s actions and feelings. The more independent you are of the anchors, the more free you shall be to be yourself.

To thine own self be true.

“First, decide who you would be, and then do what you must do.”

Epictetus

Take stock of yourself, your life, your dreams and goals. Are you living in accord with your true self? Are you living in accord with the mission, the direction you have set out? Is your course True?

Act.

Achievement of your goal; arrival at your destination won’t happen immediately, but with each small step, you become more and more in line with who you want to be – the values, both tangible and intangible that you wish to have in your life.

Build yourself up to live in accordance with your true self. Add to yourself skill and knowledge, depth and life, meaning and contentment. Bring value to your life.

Be True.

To be anchored by anything else is a living injustice.

Fiat justitia ruat caelum – Let justice be done though the heavens fall.

If you anchor your emotions, your thoughts, the value of the desired outcome to others and how they think, act/react, emote about you – then you do yourself a great injustice. Self enslaved, you are the only one that can free yourself.

Staying True, then, requires an independence from those anchors. You must free yourself of these anchors and do what you must in accordance with your mission, in accordance with the direction you let your arrows fly.

Then you must free yourself from emotional ties to your own desired outcome. Focusing on the process, the learning, the self mastery.

As you draw and take your shot, you may miss – but how you missed is more important than the miss. What did you learn?

Adjust, take aim, loose the arrow once more.

Are you closer or are you on the mark?

Assess, fire again.

Take every shot.

Be True.

Pursue Mastery.

 

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