Cinderella and your True Self

I’m privileged to travel much this year. During one of my flights from South Africa to Boston I watched the new Cinderella movie. Something I wouldn’t usually do if I were not stuck in a plane for 12 hours. There was a scene in the movie that resonated with me. Cinderella was on her way to the prince’s ball when she took a final glance of herself in the mirror. While she was looking in the mirror the narrator of the story said: ‘The biggest risk we take is to show the world our true self’.

I decided to take the risk and to show the world my true self. This blog is one of my first steps.

We often read about the term ‘True Self’ in the media but what does it mean?  According to D.W. Winnicott (1960) your ‘True self’ is your spontaneous, creative and real you. It is simply being.  This made me wonder why do we regard showing the world our ‘True Self’ as such a big risk? Wendy Palmer writes, in her book ‘The Intuitive Body’, that growing up seems to be a journey into fear.  That as we get older our major task is to protect ourselves from getting hurt.

I always wanted to blog but allowed fear to hold me back.  I knew that by starting this blog I was lowering my guard and opening myself to the opinion of others. I was trying to protect myself from criticism. What if just being me is not enough?

Just before Cinderella’s mother passed away she talked about courage and kindness as important qualities of life. I realized that I needed to be kind to myself. Give me the chance to be the person that I’m meant to be. This is easier said than done. It is difficult to find opportunities in this competitive world where time is money. However, I learned that it is not about finding opportunities but about having the courage to create them. It is also about not needing circumstances (including myself) to be perfect. It is a process of developing kinder-lenses to look at the world as well as at myself.

There are many people who show the world their ‘True Self’ on a daily basis. In doing that they are improving the lives of others and giving me the courage to face my fears. I want to invite you to join me on this journey. Start something you always wanted. Take the courageous step and put on those kinder-lenses. Be your ’True Self’.