What makes you who you are and how can you uncover your authentic self?

As I promised in my previous blog, I was going to write more about where our identity actually is formed? If it is not in social media, what makes up who we are?

Here it is for you:

Let’s start with some statistics about the human body before we get into the more spiritual part of it.

Genes are not the dictator of your nature

You can read more here. “Naked DNA (or RNA) is simply not sufficient to produce psychological or biological traits.” Matt Ridley has said it very well: “[Genes] are devices for extracting information from the environment. Every minute, every second, the pattern of genes being expressed in your brain changes, often in direct or indirect response to events outside the body. Genes are the mechanisms of experience.”

As a result, genes are NOT what makes us who we are.

But science aside (since I am not a doctor), let’s talk spiritually.

First and foremost, every human being was born with a purpose in life. Even if you think you don’t know what your purpose is, you have already been living with it. But we get caught up with all the titles that are given to us: a mother, an author, a spouse.

Your purpose creates your identity. Your purpose is the one that is going to lead your behavior. This is why it is significant to know your WHY and our identity can be found in our repeated behavior. And, our repeated behaviors create our personality.

The good news is, I do believe that you can uncover your authentic-self by following the 9 steps that are listed below. They have been proved with my own life as well as our clients who have worked with Joyy!.

1- Spend Some Quality Time with Yourself.

You can find some exercises and more details about how you can spend good quality time with you from here. For instance, spending some time with you and doing whatever you think makes you feel connected to your higher-self. Whenever you are with yourself, you’ll feel more peace in your body and you actually start connecting truly with your soul. This is going to decrease your stress level.

2- Leave Your Comfort Zone!

This is my favorite! Every time you do something that makes you uncomfortable, you’ll discover another version of yourself which is a hidden part of you, and that is who you truly are. I call this exercise “Comfort Zone Detox.” Once you try doing something different, you’ll get addicted to discover more about you and even encourage people around you to do it as well.

3- Give.

Humans are made to support each other, help each other and love each

other. We need one another and we need to give LOVE… “What happens is when you give love, you create amazing energy around you and turn to enhance your positivity. Positivity flows in your body’s energy system more. And when you are happier and healthier, you become more focused on the things you enjoy, creating a more successful life for yourself and those things your energy is creating. You no longer wait to receive love, you already have it in your heart and if you keep giving unconditionally, you will attract even more than you can imagine. You will be a “love bug.” You can read more about the meaning of love from my love blog that I wrote for Valentine’s Day.

When you live with love, you’ll be full of joy and your soul will be free from any negativity that brings you down.

4- Meditate.

If you are one of those people who say “oh I don’t have time for that, I am too busy. I can’t sit down in silence for minutes.” I hear you because I was one of those people for 3 years until I left my comfort zone and tried it for my good. Guess what, it works!! Since I have been meditating, I am calmer, happier and more successful in my life. It is a miracle that you need to do in your life.

I do Transcendental Meditation but you can find what works best for you. If you want to start from the beginning of how to meditate correctly, you can reach out to me.

5- Exercise.

I feel like it is a domino effect when you follow these steps, at least it was for me. When I start doing the things that I have never done (basically when I left my comfort zone), my life has changed in a way that I couldn’t imagine!

Exercising is one of them. I hated moving not even exercising in my whole 25 years of life! When I moved to California, I had already started uncovering my authentic self. And, I started exercising and loved it even doing extreme things such as completing a Spartan Race, pulling a truck…etc. When you move, you not only feel happier but also do become healthier and discover your true self.

We also have a saying in Turkish “A healthy mind in a healthy body.” By Ataturk who is the founder of the Turkish Republic and the first President of the Republic.

6- Eat well.

I had a personal trainer when I was living in California and I remember he told me this sentence and I am sure you’ve heard of it -> “You are what you eat!” He even handed me a book with the same title. At first, I found this saying lame but I grabbed the book anyways to learn what it was all about. I learned a lot about eating well for my body from him and the book.

I also have a good friend, Tania Mack, who is a health coach and I met her after a few months from my discovery of eating healthy. She opened another door for me where I was able to learn how to not only eat healthily but also do it mindfully. I have learned and am still learning a lot about my body in order to feel good.

Another point is, it is ok if we have days and times that we eat junk food as long as we don’t do it as a daily routine that can really harm our health. But I know when I don’t eat well, I find myself in a very bad mood. So I’ve learned my lesson and I hope you take this step seriously, too.

Eating healthy is HUGE my friend, please please make this a very high priority in your life especially in these days where we are fighting with the #coronavirus. And if you need further help with your eating habits, you can reach out to my dear friend Tania Mack.

7- Connect.

You connected with yourself in the first step but what about your loved ones, your people, your friends?

Make sure you spend some time with them if you can see them, go see them. If you apart from them, then make sure you call them and share your life. Family is important and so are your friends/community. I know it has become hard to connect with people since the pandemic hit our lives. However, we have the technology that helps us with just one finger shot! Don’t be the master of excuses; grab your smartphone and video and call your friend! Do it NOW! I am sure 99% of people would be SO HAPPY to receive a random call from a friend. Trust me, everybody feels lonely these days and everybody wants to connect!

8- Add JOY to your life.

Happiness is what we always seek as humans. So why don’t we have this as a step here, of course, we have. Imagine how you feel when you are happy, how your body feels, how your day goes when you are joyful. For me, it is the greatest feeling ever and I always add joy to whatever I do. I believe nothing has to be painful, we can always find joy in everything.

Start with finding an interest/hobby because we need to have some fun in life. We are not meant to be always working and earning money. Having a hobby also helps you to find your hidden talent.

You can also have fun by making people laugh, dancing with a good song, watching some movies that bring you joy. There can be so many ways to add joy to your life and it is extremely important!

9- Train Your Mind.

This is a good one too! As we know we are whole with mind, body, soul. We have taken care of our body and soul until this step, now it is time for our mind.

Keep learning! No matter what you do, keep reading, and discovering new ideas. Learning is a great way to keep your mind healthy and learn more about yourself. What you love to read, what you are interested in learning.

Now, you can tell that you are so amazing in how you can explore a lot about yourself and how you can uncover to become somebody even more amazing!

As always, I love hearing your thoughts and experience around my blogs. You can write to me here.

For more inspiration and content, you can follow me on Instagram and tune in to the Coffee o’clock Live Show every Wednesday! Here is one of the episodes you can watch.

I hope you enjoyed the blog and if you did, please share it with someone who can benefit from it.