Stop trying to find yourself.

I think one of the most powerful things you can do in life is to deeply and intimately know yourself.

Especially in college a lot of people feel lost and don't know who they are. But the truth is you are not lost. You have been and always will be right here. You have just been sitting under all of the cultural conditioning, social normals, old habits, subconscious behaviors, and extensive media consumption that you've mistaken as your identity.

A lot of people talk about finding their purpose like it's something outside of them. As if purpose is just going to show up on your front door step. But purpose is within. You find it when you take the time to get to know yourself deeply and openly. When you take inventory of what you like and what you don't, what gives you energy, and what drains it.

But, that's easier said then done. A lot of times we fill our life with massive amounts of consumption (social media, tv, music alcohol etc) because we can't stand to sit with ourselves and listen to our inner dialogue and observe our thoughts and feel our feelings. It makes people uncomfortable. Lately it’s been making me uncomfortable.

I've found that the moment I felt internal peace was the moment I embraced those darker shadow sides of myself that I tried so hard to suppress and ignore by consuming other things.

Suppression doesn't work. What you resist persists.

I've learned to embrace all parts of myself and to pour love into my wounded self who can be jealous, insecure and stubborn.

The only way out is in.

Studying different religions I've found that at the core, all spirituals teachings are all pointing us in the same direction. The bible the Quran, the torah etc. They all point us back to ourselves. They remind us that everything we are searching for we already have it's always been right here.

I was reading a book called The Alchemist by Paul Coelho and it talks about a man who takes this elaborate journey to try and find treasure only to return home and find that it had been in his backyard. Everything we need is already in our posession. Look within.

So in conclusion I don't think life is about FINDING ourselves, instead it's always been about RETURNING to who we are.