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Remove the Labels!

Guest post by: Geoffrey Canavan

Article Overview: What labels are you using the describe yourself? Who are you without those labels?

Remove the Labels!

Last summer, every week for 13 weeks we invited key people from the world's of business, entertainment, the arts and spirituality to join us as guests on the Power of Realism radio series on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel in order to help us share the philosophy that regardless of the nature of the challenges currently facing you – business, relationships, life – you already have what it takes to deal with them and to transform your results in any area.

It was uplifting to hear this diverse group of experts and leaders deliver what was basically the same message: truth, integrity, authenticity and realism are the basic building blocks of any success story.

Stephen Russell joined us for the show called 'Who Are you?'. Stephen is better known as Barefoot Doctor. (Traditionally, the barefoot doctor (a metaphor for humble healer/life-skills teacher) wandered around the rural areas of ancient China, dispensing healing and spiritual succor in various forms.)

Stephen is a prolific writer, a musician, a martial artist, a doctor of Chinese medicine and a teacher. He is also the creator of the world’s largest online Taoist community at barefootdoctorworld.com, which has been running since 1998.

Stephen's answer to the question 'who are you?' was

" I am a kind, loving, beautiful man who knows himself fairly well, knows the world fairly well, knows how people work fairly well and with all that knowledge and the love informing his heart is offering all he can to make the world a more beautiful place for everybody and have as much of a good time along the way as he can."

His description of himself is full of the truth, integrity, authenticity and realism the show, this website and all Solved Systems products are based on.

But how many of us have the self-knowledge, humility and honesty to answer like that?

Because many of us have lost touch with the awareness of how special and successful we are in our own right, we clothe ourselves in labels to explain ourselves to the world: ‘I am a businessperson/a soccer supporter/a victim/ a landlord/a musician/an alcoholic/mother/entrepreneur/bad at maths etc.

In truth, as Stephen demonstrated, we have no need to explain or define ourselves to anyone.

Life has taught us to gravitate toward the negative, based on what we perceive as failure, loss and isolation. We then use the value we have assigned to our past experiences as a template for future decision-making. When we can look beyond the historical negatives we learn that we can choose a more constructive view of the world and not draw exclusively from that sense of being hostage to our past.

Success is not about whether you get the contract or sign that deal or win the lottery or find the perfect partner. It has far more to do with honest assessment and appraisal.

In other words, truth, integrity, authenticity and realism.

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Article Tags: authenticyty, Barefoot Doctor, identity, integrity, power of Realism, realism, Stephen Russell, truth



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