How to Reveal Your True Personality?
Every day, we all get up, get dressed, and get ready to go. Subsequently, we consider our social interactions and adopt specific behaviors with each individual, believing that this is the best way to build relationships and influence others. These behaviors ultimately shape our personality.
The Persona
We create this persona because we are often dissatisfied with our true personality. Also, if we behave differently, we will achieve greater success. In the current Western world, hearing someone say this is all an illusion is rare. According to the psychologist Carl Jung, "The persona is a complicated system of relations between the individual consciousness and society, fittingly enough a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other, to conceal the true nature of the individual."
We get dressed before we leave the house. Our first line of defense against the outside world is this covering. We conceal the reality of our bodies as long as we cover ourselves. However, we must realize that our bodies are only a small portion of who we are; they do not convey our personalities.
The next line of defense is what we say and do; we construct a particular manner of acting or showing ourselves to others to portray ourselves in a particular light in this game called life to obtain something.
The Pearl
We might compare what we conceal to some dirt or darkness inside us and use the pearl as an example. As the comedian Jim Carrey succinctly said, “Where did this character come from? What is the dirt that the pearl is built around? And the pearl is the personality that you build around yourself as a protection against that thought, ‘If they ever find out that I’m worthless if they ever find out that I’m not enough, I’ll be destroyed.’”
In other words, the dirt is your true self, complete with all your flaws, complexity, and defects. This message seems influential, especially from a very successful person by most societal standards.
Our awareness that we frequently conceal our genuine selves causes us to lead tense lives. The duality between the self we show the outside world and the true self raises this tension. The greater the contrast between the two images, the more we feel tension, anxiety, fear, and sadness.
We all want to get rid of the heavy burden we bear, but only death can do that for us. Until then, there's no reason to worry or make an effort. Some people take comfort in abusing alcohol and drugs to forget about their problems.
The Thorn
Author Michael Singer's analogy from The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself is another one we can examine to help clarify the dirt around the pearl. According to Singer, this dirt is comparable to a thorn. Any inner pain we experience, whether emotional or spiritual, is like an excruciating thorn in our side, a weak spot that is susceptible to various stimuli, like the physical or emotional presence of others nearby.
No matter how many layers of defense or protection we put up to shield ourselves from the thorn, the pain gets sharp when someone gets close to us. We have two options with this painful thorn in our side: either we decide to pull it out, or we live a life devoid of anything that could irritate it.
If we decide to address this pain, it will hurt more. However, our lives will be much better in the long run. The only thing our minds use to judge pain is the peak of pain and the final result. Therefore, the best decision is to pull out the thorn, which is the most difficult according to pure human psychology. Two essential elements that will improve true freedom if we decide to pull out the thorn are spontaneity and awareness of the present.
Spontaneity
The concept of spontaneity is very complicated, as we were all raised with a mindset of contemplation, discussion, and planning things out before acting. As a result, we frequently associate spontaneity with reckless, unwise, or thoughtless decisions. However, true spontaneity can only come with extreme awareness of the present moment. We have no real choice in life other than to interpret our thoughts and emotions, so we must not allow the narrative we tell ourselves to dictate how we are experiencing the present. Therefore, we should consider them as lessons to learn from before moving on.
However, we must realize that being spontaneous does not entail letting go of all responsibilities or acting without hesitation. Real spontaneity arises when we fulfill our spiritual destiny.
We can compare spontaneity to a heart beating freely or a flower that grows without thinking about growing. Because it is spontaneous, your heart does not pursue every pleasure conceivable; instead, it maintains perfect harmony and balance with the rest of your body. This pattern is the path to spontaneity.
In Conclusion
We have two options: either we face our fear of weakness and live an authentic and spontaneous life, or we keep wearing the mask to deceive people and conceal our true selves. This is not a simple task; effort and commitment are necessary for any worthwhile life skill or personal development.