Chapter 1 Who Are You?

Quoted from <Beyond Feelings>:

Individuality begins in the realization that it is impossible to escape being influenced by other people and by circumstance. The essence of individuality is vigilance. The following guidelines will help you achieve this:

1. Treat your first action to any person, issue or situation as tentative.
2. Decide why you acted as you did. Consider whether you borrowed the reaction from someone else. If possible, determine what specific experience conditioned you to react this way.
3. Think of other possible reactions you might have had to the person, issue, or situation.
4. Ask yourself whether one of the other reactions is more appropriate than your first reaction. And when you answer, resist the influence of your conditioning.

To ensure that you will really be an individual and not merely claim to be one, apply these guidelines throughout your work in this book, as well as in your everyday life.

vigilance: the process of paying close and continuous attention.
conditioning: 条件反射