Message #7 - To Thine Own Self Be True

This is the seventh in a series of monthly messages:

From Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”:

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Living up to my personal values and ideals, and maintaining them in the face of life, is difficult. When I am most proud of myself, or when I am inspired by another, it usually has something to do with integrity of self, being true to oneself. That kind of integrity cannot be imposed. It is created by me and freely chosen by me. It allows me to express who I really am.

If you’re a rooster, crow; if you’re a hen, shut up and lay eggs.

Russian Proverb

Let each of you find where your chance for greatness lies.

“Chariots of Fire”

Success rests with having the courage and endurance, and above all, the will to become the person you are, however peculiar that may be. Then, you can say, I have found my hero and he is me.

George Sheehan

The splendor of furrowed fields is this: That like all grave

things they are made straight, and therefore they bend.

In everything that bows gracefully there must be an effort at

stiffness.

Bows are beautiful when they bend only because they try to remain

rigid, and swordblades can curl like silver ribbons only because

they are certain to spring straight again.

But the same is true of every tough curve of the tree trunk, of

every strongbacked curve of the bough;

That same thing in nature, that mere droop of weakness, rigidity

yielding a little, like justice swayed by mercy, is the whole

beauty of the earth.

The foil may curve in the lunge, but there is nothing beautiful

about beginning the battle with a crooked foil.

So the strict aim, the strong doctrine, may give a little in the

actual fight with facts.

But that is no reason for beginning with a weak doctrine or a

twisted aim.

Do not be an opportunist; try to be theoretic at all the

opportunities; fate can be trusted to do all the opportunistic

part of it.

Do not try to bend, any more than the trees try to bend.

Try to grow straight, and life will bend you.

GK Chesterton – “To Grow Straight”

Joseph Campbell summed it up best: Follow your bliss!!