Finding your highest self through adventurous habits is the main pursuit of this site… but what exactly is your highest self? After all, in order to find it, we must also know what it is we are looking for.
In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield describes each person as having two lives – the life they are living, and their unlived life. A person’s unlived life is full of the work they could accomplish, the callings and dreams they could chase, and the unrealized being they could become. The key to success and contentment in life, he argues, is bridging the gap between those two lives. What stands in the way? Well, a gap. He calls this gap ‘resistance’.
We will certainly discuss ‘resistance’ further, as that is the same force that holds people back from making an adventure of life (hint: overcoming resistance is largely about developing certain habits to help overcome it… Adventurous Habits, that is). However, this post will simply strive to define your highest self, your unlived life.
The idea of the unlived life describes your Highest Self well, but not completely. There is more. The highest self is also the most authentic version of yourself. Of course, authenticity is always hard to define, because some may argue that throwing a tantrum or being mean is authentic if that is really them. Against this, I argue that Pressfield’s ‘resistance’ causes these characteristics – it is akin to eating sugar. You and everyone in the world know that eating sugar, though it is SO damn tempting to do in the moment, will ultimately not make you feel your best or be your happiest. Throwing a tantrum or being mean is the same, and therefore it is not authentic.
Others will argue that authenticity involves working toward a cause greater than yourself while still staying true to yourself. I believe strongly that Howard Thurman hit the nail on the head when he said:
We will certainly discuss ‘resistance’ further, as that is the same force that holds people back from making an adventure of life (hint: overcoming resistance is largely about developing certain habits to help overcome it… Adventurous Habits, that is). However, this post will simply strive to define your highest self, your unlived life.
The idea of the unlived life describes your Highest Self well, but not completely. There is more. The highest self is also the most authentic version of yourself. Of course, authenticity is always hard to define, because some may argue that throwing a tantrum or being mean is authentic if that is really them. Against this, I argue that Pressfield’s ‘resistance’ causes these characteristics – it is akin to eating sugar. You and everyone in the world know that eating sugar, though it is SO damn tempting to do in the moment, will ultimately not make you feel your best or be your happiest. Throwing a tantrum or being mean is the same, and therefore it is not authentic.
Others will argue that authenticity involves working toward a cause greater than yourself while still staying true to yourself. I believe strongly that Howard Thurman hit the nail on the head when he said:
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
This authentic version of yourself is totally selfish! BUT, in being selfish you become happy and healthy, and that, in itself brings value to the world around you,.
The question, then, becomes how do you find what makes you come alive!? Check out The Ultimate LifeHack for the answer.
The question, then, becomes how do you find what makes you come alive!? Check out The Ultimate LifeHack for the answer.
