Expressing Oneself #2 - Being Genuine

Ok – this is a tough thing to do for most people, but I’ve just come out from training the Normal Academic students at Macpherson Secondary school, and I trust that they need some of this as well.

It’s not just because they are from the Normal Academic stream that I want to write this, it just so happens that I believe every 15 year old teenager ought to learn how to master themselves and their ability to express ideas… genuinely!

So, given this new role, I suggest that to start expressing yourself, you need to be genuine.

So, instead of looking at the obvious, consider how that ‘idiot’ (a technical term in schools used to refer to someone whom you don’t like), in anything he says, could be teaching you a very important lesson. Even younger people teach me something new. In my last session, a very clear idea was reinforced in me. I finally discovered that people have an outer mask that shields and protects them, while those who are unmasked are left vulnerable. Sometimes, that vulnerability leaves them in pain, and then they shy away from being expressive once again. If you are such a person, remember that whatever pain you experience from being a genuine person is genuine pain, whatever false emotions you put up by putting up a mask will remain false. I think it is better to feel genuine pain than to have fake confidence. When you put up a false mask, you not only share experiences that are fake, you look at other people through false eyes. You don’t see another person for what they truly are worth, but rather as an impedance to your own selfish desires. Expression is not a one way thing. You can be the most charismatic speaker on the face of this planet, but if you are fake, people will realize this. You need to let down your masks first before people can reciprocate.

I didn’t learn this by telling the students what to do. I learnt this by experiencing what I felt when the students started to speak to me. I observed and listened, and discovered that the deep core of them were individuals who had struggled before, but have never really reached beyond to accomplish their desirable goals because of their poor belief in themselves. When in spite of the risk of being vulnerable they continued to share, I learnt to admire them for wanting to risk that change. It is the genuineness of their communication that will help them to be far more expressive eventually.