There are things in life that you can compromise on, I never really agreed with that before, but it is true, or else you would be living in a lonely world. The critical thing is that those things cannot be things that you love. If it’s a place to eat, what movie you see, where you’re going for vacation, those are the types of things for me that can be compromised because none are things that I love.

 

How do you know what not to compromise on? Stay true to yourself. What does it mean to be “true to yourself?” It means to only make decisions using what you feel is right for you in your gut. (see Three ways to make decisions) There are three things that every person must strive for in order to be true to yourself: to know  who  you are. To know what  you love. To know what you want in life.  In order to have focus , to be able to hone your life into only the things that you love, these three things must be your goals. Some people never understand any of these things about themselves, and they compromise by saying that they will stop looking. Once you compromise on this most important quest, you will compromise on everything.

 

That is 90% of this world, by the way, people who compromise one of the three: live for your partner without respect for yourself, get a job solely for money, set goals that are not really what they want, but what others tell them they want. There is room for compromise, yes, but not in the three things that define a person’s life.

 

“Know thyself.” It starts with knowing who you are. This quote is an ancient saying, if you look it up, you will find no author, or really you will find thousands of authors, from Socrates to Plato to Jung.  It is the first most important quest. From knowing yourself you will know what you love and then what you want.  It cannot be in any other order.

 

Without these three things, you cannot react truthfully to any situation. You will be looking around the room to see how everyone else reacts, how everyone else votes, how everyone else likes their chicken.   Think about it, how can you have truthful opinions or emotions about little things if you are not truthful about the big things? You cannot. You have no frame of reference, because you don’t know the nitty gritty about yourself.

 

There is nothing “wrong” with being in the 90% if that is what you have chosen, and have no discord about it. It is certainly easier to “go with the flow” and follow the rules set forth by others. Realize this though, the energy will still be within you, to be true to yourself, and if you deny it, it will come out, although not by your choice. You cannot deny the energy within you. (See Life’s Laws of Motion)

 

Realize the beautiful part as well, when you know who you are, what you love, and what your goals are you have an internal compass to guide you at all times and will feel the authentic twang in your gut that tells you to right the ship to your truth.

 

Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. -- Betty Ford