Who do you think you are?

Now that’s a phrase heavy with social violence. How dare you? it asks.

How dare you step out of the box they put you in.

But it doesn’t take much to deflate it. A small shift in vocabulary - from think to know.

Who do you know you are?

But for most of us, that shift is challenging because we don’t know who we are.

We’re not sure what we value most. A lifetime of box living has confined us and suppressed our understanding and knowledge of ourselves.

But you can change this. You can define your core values and learn what’s most important to you.

No one else – just you.

You can slough off the dirt and grime of other people’s expectations, of other’s definition of you.

You can find out who you are, and start living in alignment.

Is it frightening? Maybe.

So many people are worried that when they look inside, they’ll find nothing. Just emptiness.

But I can assure you that’s not the case.

You are not empty. You are filled.

But what are you filled with?

Is it joy and wonder and delight and love?

Or despair and distaste and boredom and hate?

That is your choice. Yours alone.

You can let go of the things and values and feelings you don’t want, and cultivate the way you want to feel. Letting go of what you don’t want doesn’t leave you empty, it allows room for all of what you do want to expand and grow.

And when you are filled with joy and wonder and delight and love you will know who you are. You will know your core values and be living in alignment.

And when someone says “Who do you think you are” or “How dare you” you’ll have the peace and assurance and confidence to say,