People underestimate the value of their lives.

They coast through as if survival is the ceiling of what they can achieve, never to become aware of what life can do for them.

This is why the world is lost today. The people who make up society are so heavily blinded by what they have been told that they never see the light beyond their conditioning.

I was that person. I lived life in fear. The fear that takes away your imagination to live.

I chased agreement and support from the people around me, following them to show the world I was living a good life.

It felt good in the moment. When the world around you acknowledged your existence.

That was all it was, a moment. Funny how a moment can define your existence, and in some sense, take away your agency in your existence.

The more I followed people, who were following other people, the more I questioned myself.

What is the point of this? If I have to study what other people want, If I have to do a job that someone tells me to, where is the life I thought I could live when I was a kid?

Eventually, my wanting became heavier than other people’s influence, and now we are here.

Survival is necessary. I am not denying that. I will not ask you to drop your job right now and tell you that it will all work out. It will eventually, but not as easily as you would imagine it.

What I am telling you is that survival is not the end goal. It is an obstacle that you have to overcome throughout your life, but that is the baseline. You have to define your ceiling higher than just surviving. You need to thrive, and that is where expression comes in.

Expression is your North Star

Expression is what defines you.

Anything that gives you energy, thinking about it or doing it, is your expression.

Anything that fills you with vitality is your expression.

Anything that makes you, YOU is your expression.

Expression is the totality of anything you would use to describe yourself.

I am a Music Producer by profession. Music is my expression, creativity is my expression.

I like to think about things, introspect, find connections. I like to learn things, I like to be in the flow when skill creates a seem less connection between thinking and doing.

This is my expression. Doing these things gives me energy to do more, to do life.

I align my life in a way that follows my expression. I don’t let my life dictate how I live, although that does happen to a certain extent.

The point is that most people don’t have direction in life. They point to the limited potential of life, how everything works not by their choice, but by external circumstances. This happens because people do not take the risk of trying what they want. They want a path paved for them which guarantees them success. They fail to realize that the only path which can guarantee them anything is a path that has been travelled by someone else, which inherently will not be unique to them.

You have to realize this. Your path in life is unique to you, and only you. The more you can differentiate your life path from other people, the better you are at exploring what it means to be you.

This does not mean to be different for the sake of being different, but it is a good measure of if you are on the right path.

Finding YOU

If expression is all important, the next hurdle comes in finding your expression. Let’s make it super actionable.

Figure out your feeling of expression – Like most things in Self-Help, action is guided by intuition. You will have to get a feel of what expression FEELS like to you. This is not something you can rationalize with your mind. You need to feel and remember the feeling of being in your authentic expression. The key to that is energy.

List the things you like – As you list these things/ actions/ activities note how these make you feel. Be keenly aware of the distinction between energy and avoidance. Some things you like doing because they give you energy. Others because they serve as a source of avoidance from the things you are meant to be doing. You know what these are, you just have to be honest to yourself.

Bring awareness to how much you actually follow your expression – Each moment in time is a decision to do the right thing, or to revert to your basic instincts. If you want to evolve, you need to follow your mind like a 3rd person sitting in your mind, noticing your every move. Be careful, awareness is pure presence, not judgement. Let yourself be present in what you are doing, do not assign any label to what you are doing.

Finally, make the decision to follow your expression – As you try be aware of your actions throughout the day, and as you become aware of the feeling of expression, you will start to notice points of dissonance. Points where you do something out of alignment by habit, that needs to be changed. This is where your action comes in. Consciously choose, as much as you can, to do the right thing for yourself, to follow your expression. Make it a habit to transform into a different mode of operation, and see the change in outlook it brings in your life.

Closing thoughts

This is a journey everyone has to make.

The idea is broad enough that it applies to everyone, and it’s application wide enough that it can be tailored to each and every person on the planet.

This is a commitment you have to make to yourself to be you.

Right now, you don’t trust yourself to take risks because you don’t have any evidence that you stick up for yourself. Your body feels that you don’t trust it to make it through.

Change that. Lead with yourself, let yourself find your path.

Thanks for reading, I will see you in the next letter!

-Sahil