Meaning-Making

In this episode, I discuss the topics of Taking Charge of Your Life. It is the second pillar in helping you become your true self. Say you Understand Yourself (pillar one) then you have to actually do something with it, right!? This means you need to take charge of your life. And just like the other pillars (Understand Yourself and Pass the Torch), this pillar is also composed of three themes: Taking Responsibility, Improving Yourself, and Taking Purposeful Action.

Take Responsibility

This is a key mindset, the mindset of taking responsibility. A mindset of taking ownership of your circumstances, even if they are not caused by you, sets you up for a chance to improve things. If you see yourself as a victim, you’ll fail to improve or take action by default. Why? Because if you think you’re a victim you’ll feel you don’t have control. So what are some questions you can ask yourself to help you take responsibility?

Improve Yourself

Now that you know what you want and have taken the responsibility to focus on it, you need the skills to be able to follow that path. A good way to figure out if you’re ready is to challenge yourself, so you can see where you need to improve. Don’t let improving your skills take priority over actually taking action, but don’t neglect your weaknesses and strengths either. Improving yourself is what will compound the results of your actions over time.

Take Purposeful Action

You took ownership of your “why” and you have the skills to take action, now is the time to go out and be the change you want to see. the best way of course is to embody what you want to see in the world. There are a few tips that I think are helpful for you to keep walking the path.

In this episode, I discuss the topic of Understanding yourself. So what do I mean by understanding yourself? Well to understand yourself is to know thyself, to know who you are, and what you want to do in life. And to understand yourself I believe it is important to incorporate three sub-aspects, or themes. One is to heal yourself, the second is to find your true self, and the third is to find your purpose. I believe these three together can help you understand yourself. And I start with Heal Yourself for a reason. Let’s look into it!

Heal Yourself
If you haven't healed yourself sufficiently, then it's hard to find your true self or to find your purpose. Say, for example, you still have coping strategies that you are carrying around with you that don't serve you anymore. And maybe you even deeply identify with them. To overcome those coping mechanisms you have to heal that part of yourself. Or else you will make it really difficult to even get to finding your true self, covered beneath all that cope.

Find Your True Self
I think we go through life with a mask on, and we identify as that mask. This mask, or our ego you could say, is attached to all kinds of things. Those desires come from the fact that you need desires to survive. So it is a survival mechanism. But it’s not a mechanism that solves for happiness, peace, love, and clarity. It solves for survival. But what is something that does solve for those good things? Well, if you can find your true self, beneath that ego, then you clearly see that there always is love, happiness, and peace within you. It’s very difficult to get there though, so it helps to ask yourself some questions.

Find Your Purpose
The last theme within Understanding Yourself is how to find your purpose. Which is the place where it all comes together. To understand yourself is to know what your purpose is. Say you healed yourself and found your true self, i.e., you know what you’re good at, and know what you love doing. What next steps do you take to find your purpose and apply yourself to it?

Hi, my name is Jibran el Bazi, I want to help you become your true self. Growing up we all had to "put on a mask" so we could function in society, but oftentimes this mask, our ego, can stand in the way of living a peaceful and meaningful life. It's time to live a life true to yourself. Through asking, answering, and discussing, sometimes unconventional, questions, I try to help us understand ourselves, our place in the world, and how we can help others find their place in the world.