YOU DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE

You’re not who you think you are. Discover how childhood beliefs shape your identity—and how to break free from that old identity in just two minutes a day.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Madeleine Albright immigrated to the United States after the 1948 communist coup d’état when she was eleven years old. Her father, diplomat Josef Korbel, settled the family in Denver, Colorado, and she became a U.S. citizen in 1957. Madeleine Korbel Albright was nominated to be the first woman Secretary of State by President William Jefferson Clinton on December 5, 1996, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 22, 1997, and sworn in the next day.

Madeleine Albright, the first woman Secretary of State, was raised a devout Catholic, only to find out years later that her origins are Jewish, and in fact, several in her family had died in concentration camps. She discovered her origins and identity through an article in the Post.

Would it interest you to know that you are not remotely who you think you are? That you are, in fact, some invention, some collection of feelings and limiting beliefs knitted together by a three or four-year-old into a narrative that shapes your perceptions of yourself and the world? That, like Madeleine, you have no clue to your true identity? Every time we are chastised or diminished as children we post a warning that says “Don’t do that again!” As we continue to get the message that we are not enough or not good enough, we start to form an idea of ourselves. We are ego-centric as children. We assume we are the cause of everything that happens and as the cause of these signals, we begin to believe that we are truly not enough. 

From the general to the specific, we start getting more pointed in our self-perceptions. “I am not smart enough!” “I am not pretty enough!” “Nobody likes me!” All of these messages start to coalesce into a narrative about ourselves. Each belief is like an electric fence, keeping you in, keeping you from going after your hopes and dreams. 

Yet, none of them are true. They are the conclusions of a child’s interpretation of the world, but we dare not test those boundaries. We keep ourselves small and out of harm’s way. 

Want a remedy? Do you dare? 

Do the following:

1. Reflect on who you believe you are. For instance, “I’m shy” or “I’m not enough” 
2. List each belief one at a time, and say ‘Belief Clear’ after each one for sixty seconds
3. Check back
4. Do the same exercise but in the third person, (She is not enough, etc.,)and Belief Clear after each one for sixty seconds
5. Check back

This will be your first serious attempt at changing that inner dialogue. I will make you a promise: Do this every day for a month, invest 120 seconds of your time, and you will change your opinion of yourself and you will change the outcomes in your life. 

Suggested Reading

• The Neuroscience of Manifesting
• How to Stalk Happiness