Some things in life are important, and they deserve your full commitment. It's important to do your best when performing your job, cultivating your marriage, raising your children, and competing for the league bowling championship. Giving it your all is a necessary part of success, which gives us pride and joy and a sense of self-worth. Unfortunately, at some point early in life, we all heard someone say, Always do your best. And a lot of people accepted the wisdom of this advice without ever questioning it. These are the people who avoid trying new activities because they are afraid that someone will judge their effort and scold them if it's not their best. So these people miss out on lots of fun, mind-expanding enjoyable activities because of always do your best mentality.

The journey to discovering your authentic self promises to be the most rewarding adventure of your life. When you know yourself, you are free. You have a power and presence that radiates from deep within and shines out confidently into the world. You did not come into this life to suffer, to be manipulated and denied. Whatever binds you and keeps you from living your truth is false and can be shed. It takes courage to embrace your authentic self and live life on your own terms. Yet to be uniquely you, to listen within and love yourself for all of your weaknesses and missteps, is what your soul longs for.

The Spartans, a warrior society in ancient Greece, were feared and revered for their strength, courage and endurance. The power of the Spartan army did not come from the sharpness of their spears, however; it came from the strength of their shields. Losing one's shield in battle was considered the single greatest crime a Spartan could commit. Spartans excuse without penalty the warrior who loses his helmet or breastplate in battle, writes Steven Pressfield in his account of the Battle of Thermopylae, but deprive the man who discards his shield of all his citizenship rights. And the reason was simple. A warrior carries a helmet and breastplate for his own protection, but his shield for the safety of the whole line.