[The Best of] Who We Are, We Are Already

Something interesting keeps happening to me.

I keep surprising myself. I look back at an experience, and in retrospect suddenly realize something really special about myself. Looking back, I finally see some attribute that I had taken for granted, and I see that it really helped me navigate whatever challenge I was facing. With 34 years under my belt, you’d think I’d know myself well enough by now. So why the surprise? Why aren’t I aware of my strengths in the moment? Interestingly, I sometimes don’t even realize how hard something is until it’s over. Looking back, I think

“Wow, that was actually a huge deal.”

Maybe it’s me being naive, maybe its sheer ignorance or lack of experience. But I’m starting to think it’s actually human nature.

I work with people. I play several roles, which I’ll explain in later posts. But the commonality is that I talk to people every day about things that are really difficult. I help people work through experiences that are bringing them to their knees. And what I’m starting to learn is that most of us AREN’T aware of how amazing we are. I look at these people and just wish that I could reflect back to them exactly how I see them. Because if they believed that they were the person that I see in front of me, they would never doubt their ability to be okay. So why are we so blinded to our best selves?

We don’t see our best selves because we don’t have to work hard at being who we already are.

It’s our natural way. Our strengths come easy to us and for this reason, we are less aware of them. They also create a positive feedback loop, whereby our work becomes easier to accomplish with each gain. There is a self-fulfilling momentum. This idea is so simple, yet so profoundly powerful. And this is why I’m so grateful to be part of W o m a n, because this is much needed reminder that we are all inherently good, by NATURE.