Once again, who am I?

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain
The other day, as I reflected on this quote, I couldn’t help but wonder if sometimes the other way round is also true? Do people sometimes think much more of us that we really are? Or rather do people think more highly of me than I am? Or is it that I don’t take as much time in discovering myself?
Much as I might pride myself in self awareness, I still get shockers when people compliment me more than my expectations. What of last week when I friend who I had apparently mentored more than I actually thought wrote a one page thank you that moved me to tears? I had been encouraging this friend like for some time in different life issues but I didn’t know how much impact this had on him.
Other tiems I get shockers when I wonder if people are talking about me or someone else! Unfortunately this doesn’t come often as many people are not great at giving negative feedback….I am not good at it…
On the other hand I got discoveries into my own life that were rather revealing. Through a friend I got to hear about the Land mark forum and the great impact it has had on people’s lives. I was in a space where I was feeling quite discouraged in life, tired, fatigued….you name it and I felt this was something worth doing. As I walked to the exhibition hall of Sarit centre in Nairobi on the Friday 7th August 2009, I was expecting anther 20 or so people at the forum, only to find quite a swarm of people. By the time the forum started there were more than 200 or so people! As people got sharing about their lives issues it gave me more insight into my own life. It helped me discover myself in ways that I never had!!! This was refreshing.
From this forum it struck me that, yeah, I have to keep discovering myself each and every moment!! How exciting! I love the adventure that is my life that I am engaged in. The realization that I can be as great as I want to be is scaring, that I have a lot of work to do, then I realize, no need, just to relax and leave a moment at a time; for that is what life really is. I make many commitments to myself, and it is my responsibility to keep them.
So here I am, once again discovering who I am and enjoying every moment of it. Discovering also like Mark Twain said, I may not be able to change the people around me; actually nobody can, but I can change the people who surround me.
I am sure of one best friend, the one that has been here all the years of my life, and that is the person to please, to be honest with, to love – ME- Then the rest will sort itself out. This is the most challenging part, after all, I can not lie to this person!!!!
The great bonus is the people who believe in me, the people that I need to keep me close to as we grow together in this life of self discovery.

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