Identity is the story you tell yourself about your life.
How do you see yourself? How do you want to see yourself?
To answer these questions, we need to reflect on ourselves, our lives and our priorities. Actions must be allied with goals and values.
The story changes as major life events get further behind you. How you understand the world around you is viewed through the glass of the story you believe about yourself.
Now it may not be a true story, or a helpful one, but it’s there for all of us.
The problem is an identity can be warped by a bad actor. In cults, this takes the form of telling recruits they are special with encroaching criticism of any independent thought and action. People become convinced they can’t do anything without the cult’s approval. How they see themselves changes.
First, a cult recruit is told they are part of something bigger than themselves. Then, the requirements for belonging get stricter. There are greater and greater rest…
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