Why Self-labeling is Self-defeating

Have you ever labeled yourself? You know, "I'm the kind of person who does what I say I'm going to do." Or, "When I was young, a specialist told me I had attention deficit disorder, and to this day I still have trouble concentrating." I do the same thing. Every now and then, I get tricked into believing that my current view of life is based on a previous finding. When I was thirteen, for instance, my parents got divorced. So because I do my best to be a committed family man today, sometimes I attribute this determination to my past adversity.

However, being a committed family man (a label) has nothing to do with my former perceptions. Any personal attribute is the by-product of a person's current level of consciousness. When one's level of consciousness is high, it's extremely easy to remain loyal to his or her family. When this level is low, it's much more difficult.

Labeling your own character does one thing: it reinforces your own insecure thinking.

My point is that, at times, we all get confused and believe that the quality of our thinking is caused by an outside circumstance. When we compound the issue by labeling ourselves (according to our impermanent thoughts), we box ourselves in to artificial expectations and our confusion only escalates.

To illustrate, I recently met with a depressed gentleman who lost his wife a couple of years ago. When we first sat down, he was convinced that before his wife's passing he was always a very optimistic person. So, in his mind the only explanation for his current despair was his loss. Yet, when I made it clear that human beings create all perceptions—including perceptions of ourselves—from the inside out, his viewpoint shifted. He said, "Golly, your right, sometimes I think about my wife and feel good inside and sometimes I feel miserable." He went on to realize, "Come to think about it, I've always seen the world that way. I guess my viewpoint on life, including my wife's passing, is kind of random."

Exactly. And since labeling oneself shrinks awareness, limits possibilities, and leads to self-doubt, this gentleman's personal portrayal (of always being optimistic before his wife's death) was restricting his ability to find clarity and meaning, and thus move forward.

From a high state of mind, we see infinite personality traits within ourselves.

The truth is that self-imposed labels, like all thoughts and ensuing emotions, are temporary. For each of us, the options for personality traits run the gamut. And the degree to which you understand this element of the human experience, the more free, open, and prosperous you'll be.

In other words, if you once labeled yourself as an avid golfer (due to the fact that you used to think that playing golf made you happy) and you are no longer enthusiastic about playing golf, there is nothing wrong with you. Quite the contrary, you now see that happiness occurs from in to out—labeling yourself was merely the by-product of a former level of understanding and consciousness. Onward and upward!