Find Happiness by Being Yourself and Not a Persona

What exactly is a "persona"?

A “persona” in this case is how you define “yourself”. Examples are:

“I am the sibling/spouse/child of so-and-so.”
“I am a powerful rich person.”
“I am the owner of ABC Corporation.”
“I am Jane/John Doe.”
“I am a lecturer at the University of ABC.”
“I am an accomplished engineer/lawyer/doctor/teacher/entrepreneur.”
“I am the Assistant Secretary in the Department of ABC.”

It is important to grasp the sense of what is described here.

You identify with one or more of the above personas, i.e., you think that that is who you are. The truth is that these personas merely describe what you have or what you do.

“I am the sibling/spouse/child of so-and-so” describes your relationship to another person.

“I am a powerful rich person” and “I am the owner of ABC Corporation” talk about the assets you possess.

“I am Jane/John Doe” describes the name which the world attached to you.

“I am a lecturer at the University of ABC”, “I am an accomplished engineer/lawyer/doctor/teacher/entrepreneur” and “I am the Assistant Secretary in the Department of ABC” describe the job you perform.

Now let us pause for a second to further understand this.

Clearly, when you were about a week old, you did not know about your relationships, you knew of no assets, you did not know what your name was and you were definitely not employed  

Yet you existed!!

As a matter of fact, your mind was pretty much empty. YOU JUST WERE.

Therefore your basic identity has nothing to do with your relationships, assets, name or job. First you were. You had a sense of being. Knowledge of your relationships, assets, your name and your job came later.

The sense of being is who you really are. It is the basic you. It is there even today, buried under a ton of thoughts and identification with personas like the ones listed above.

It is the basic you that is watching all your thoughts and actions. In a way it is outside your thoughts. Since there is nothing in it to disturb or agitate it, it is absolutely peaceful.

To locate the long-forgotten basic you, the next time a thought occurs, find the answer to the question, “To whom did that thought occur?” The answer is the basic you. If you want some free help doing this, take my email course.

So why try to be something you are not? Stop trying to be a persona, get back to being the basic you and start experiencing life yourself… instead of a persona experiencing it!