Do you know your true Identity?

Do you know your true identity?

Would you agree that it is based on the values you live by!

Albert Einstein has said – “try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”

Jolly is a 16 yr old young girl who is passionate about medicine. She has a lot of ideas about how she can help people. As I was listening to her, we ended up in the unplanned area of wearing masks - not physical ones but the invisible ones we wear to portray whatever we want others to see. She said, "Only my dad understands me; my mom is always trying to find fault in my actions. She doesn't even check why I did something".?

I said, "I can relate to it. Deep down Jolly, we all live by our values. At your age, some values are already formed, some will be formed as you learn to progress. While our actions do determine our success, those actions come from our values and those values determine our identity"

Jolly said, "So if I have the wrong values, it will be shown by my actions?"

I continued, "Yes Jolly, they will. Often before others, we try to present a 'polished' version of ourselves but deep down what we think and feel in our subconscious determines the real values that guide us. Take the case of the 2000 rupees story adapted from the ? The Human Values Foundation 2017.."

In a troubled land, there lived a rich man, who had the habit of wandering to and fro in the village market, watching the people and offering them help. One day he noticed four poor children playing in the market and wanted to help them if they had the right values.?

So he asked them, “Imagine if I gave you 2000 rupees, what would you do with them?”?

One child replied, “I would buy some guns I’ve wanted to obtain”. The rich man retorted, “Guns?!! I’m shocked and baffled. But why?” The child answered, “Because I want to control and watch over the village, and harm those who

don’t like us”.

The second child replied, “I would buy all the meat and tasty food that I long for”. The man commented, “So you would spend all the money just on food to eat?!!”

The third child replied, “I would go to the newly opened theme park I read about and play there”. The man said to the boy, “You would just have fun?”

The fourth child then replied, “I would split the money in half. I would give one half to my father to pay his debts and because I see he’s always concerned and worried, and the second half I would share with our neighbor, whose products were stolen so he can get new products to sell, and maybe ask him to split the profit with me so that I can treat my friends"

The rich man was surprised by the thoughts of this boy because he thought of his poor father, and he thought of his unfortunate neighbor and his friends, so he gave him the 2000 rupees so he could realize what he had imagined doing.

Jolly said, "I guess the last child had the best values!"

I said, "According to the rich man, yes! If you look closely at each child, the desire had come from the situations they were in. From their perspective it was right! Now the rich man who was in this case the decision-maker, probably realized that the last child chose to put others first before helping himself in a more humane and kind way. And that is what good values guide us to do."

It is said humans have 3 faces each shown to a different category of people.?

The 1st face is what we show to the world - diplomatic and polished.?

The 2nd face is what we show to our family and friends - almost real but not the truest.?

The 3rd face is the one we hide from everyone (except God for he sees our secrets) - which is what we think and feel in our subconscious.?

So we need to reflect on our thinking and feeling that is hidden from sight and ask ourselves what guides our actions.

The intent of the heart reveals our true identity!?

Question:

What is your identity?

#storypreso #3faces #sensemaking #identity #values #intent #why