True/Authentic Self - Who am I ?!?

Who knows our True Self? Do we ourselves know it? 

With ever changing situations, circumstances and moods when do we exhibit our True Self? 

Is True Self just an idea of how we want to portray ourselves? 

This is what I came across while I was searching answers to these questions above.. "Being authentic means sticking to our values, and our beliefs, even when faced with pressure to act otherwise, being honest to ourselves and taking responsibility for our actions."

In our daily lives being around family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers how many of us exhibit our authentic self? I think most of us are wearing a mask while projecting ourselves to be different people at different instances of time based on situations and moods. 

When are we our True Self?

The most important factor that enables us to be our authentic self is courage to unapologetically accept who we are and express our opinions, thoughts, choices and behaviors without the fear of judgement and consequences. This may not be easy always especially living in a society amidst people. We resort to putting up a façade and showing only a facet  that we are comfortable with at that instance. Being honest with ourselves and taking full responsibility for our actions and resulting consequences gives us the courage to stand our ground no matter what may come. 

Trust is another important factor that enables us to be our authentic self with our loved ones. With trust we are able to open up and connect with people at a personal level to share our thoughts and opinions without any inhibitions.  

Who are we our True Self with?

If we are extremely fortunate, we are blessed with company of certain souls that give us enormous comfort to be our authentic self in their presence, where there are no inhibitions and fear of judgement.

In solitude, we can be our true self if we invest time in self retrospection to understand who we truly are and what values and beliefs we want to hold on to. 

Few other questions to ponder about..

What do we get by being True Self?

What can we do to understand ourselves better and exhibit our True Self more?