Shifting Your Self-Image

“The strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent with how we define ourselves.” — Tony Robbins

When I read or hear things like this, I run it through the Three Gates.

Is it True? Well…I can certainly point to times in my life when I performed BEYOND my self image…the first time. But then when I tried to repeat the success, I screwed up. Certainly, it would be reasonable to think my ego shell was stressed and snapped back to “normal.”

But I also have performed BELOW my self-image. And immediately I began to take actions to bring myself “up to snuff.”

Is it Kind? If this is true, we have a LOT of responsibility for the pain in our lives. Our relationships, careers, and bodies reflect this congruence with self-definition, self-image. It is easiest to take actions that align with our self-image, and changing that image affects our values, beliefs, and actions. So long as we LEARN from the results of those actions, and are following a valid path…seems to me that we accelerate our progress toward our goals. Run into social problems, repression or poverty? Model someone who overcame those things, and find the part of YOU that aligns with that role model, and prune your little psychological bonsai to resemble it.

This is too much for people who have an identity that is frozen in place, perhaps that explains their existential pain as the result of external actions and attitudes: THEY don’t let me do it.