Excerpt from "The Seven Steps to Inner Power"

WHO AM I? If I asked you to answer that question right now, what would you say? Would you say something like “I’m a graphic designer,” “I’m a nurse,” “I’m an executive,” “I’m a student,” “I’m a father,” “I’m a mother”? Or would you say something that describes your abilities or character, such as “I’m an athlete,” “I’m an optimist,” or “I’m a worrier”? We tend to describe ourselves by our career, our roles in life, or the positive or negative personality traits we’ve developed over the years and accepted as being “us.” But is that who you really are? In actuality, you may only have a partial idea of the real you and the enormous creative power that resides within you.

Asking and seeking the answer to “Who am I?” is not as easy as it may seem, but it is absolutely essential if you wish to express your fullest potential in life. The reason it requires effort is that from the time you were born, the people around you have been feeding you their opinions, their advice, their ideas about who you are and the direction you should go in. at information may have little or nothing to do with the truth of who you really are, your original essence. Yet all that chatter has become mixed in with your concept of who you think you are, influencing what you dared dream of achieving. If you are honest, today you may even be following a lifestyle you inherited from your parents or mentors, your culture or society without ever realizing that you had a choice to take a different path.

The truth is, you are exactly where you are today because of the way you have answered the question “Who am I?” Why? Because how you answer that question determines what choices you make for yourself moment by moment every day of your life. You choose only what you believe is possible to choose, and those choices determine what you do with your life and who you become. If you believe you are shy, for instance, you will not choose to become a performer, even if you have the talent and inner desire to be a performer. If you believe you aren’t a good student, you may never choose a course of study that could lead you to the career you would really like to have.

It is essential, then, to know the real truth about yourself and your capabilities. The purpose of this book is to show you that you may have made limited choices based on limited information about yourself. It’s time to take another look. It’s time to start making choices based on a more complete knowledge of who you really are.

In today’s world, where the answers to almost everything are at your fingertips, “Who am I?” is one question you won’t find a quick answer to by searching on Google. Your GPS won’t instantly point you in the right direction. You have to dive into yourself at the deepest level and do some soul searching to find and experi-ence the truth. Just as you cannot see below the surface of choppy seas or muddy water, so you can only see deeply into your own self when you create a calm and quiet space. I want to help you do that here so you can experience the creative power of your original self—the power that will propel you toward your goals.

Ask yourself: What do I want to become? Have I realized my dreams and goals? Do I have the career I want, the relationships I want? Do I like who I am? Am I happy or am I just making believe that I am? If a doctor were to tell me that I had only one month to live, would I be able to truthfully say with all my heart, “Yes, I am content with my life”?

If you are satisfied with your life at this moment, those questions may hold no interest for you right now. If, on the other hand, you find yourself holding dreams that feel so true yet seem out of reach, if you are unfulfilled, frustrated, alienated, empty, if you still have a yearning to realize a deeper sense of joy, peace, and purpose, or if there is simply more you want to accomplish, it is time to extend your vision of who you are. No matter who you are, no matter what obstacles and limitations you face at this moment, you can change your life and your state of mind completely. You can decide who you want to become.

Waiting quietly within you is a presence, a force, a state of consciousness that gives you the power to overcome mental and physical limitations in your life, the power to harmonize and change discordant situations, the power to create and to achieve goals. It gives you the power to experience peace and joy regardless of the circumstances around you—the power to be who you really are. In the martial art I teach, Jung SuWon, we refer to this presence within as the Silent Master or Silent Master consciousness.

When you tap into the consciousness of the Silent Master within, you begin to take control of your life. You may have been drifting through life before; now you are driving through life and toward your goals. You experience a new sense of freedom, creativity, purpose, and peace of mind. You find yourself glad to be alive every day for the sheer pleasure of experiencing life—of experiencing yourself.

At the core of the philosophy I teach are six truths about your Silent Master. I call them “Silent Master images.” In essence, these images describe who you truly are and the awesome power you have within you now to shape your life.

The six Silent Master images reflect your true essence and the power that exists within you. Before you explore how you can begin to unlock this power, it’s important to consider why the Silent Master is so named. Why is it “silent”? If all this power and dominion are available, why isn’t it automatically out there healing you and your problems, making you the strong, successful, achieving person you want to be? Where has the Silent Master been all these years?

The Silent Master has always been there. It is silent only when we are not aware of it, when we do not focus on it, when we do not identify it as our real self. It is silent out of neglect—our neglect. It takes e ort to listen to that which is silent, but when you make the decision to nd your Silent Master, its power begins to unfold. at power unfolds to the degree you strive to open yourself to receive it.

So the real question is not “Where has my Silent Master been all these years?” The question is “Where have you been?”

Adapted from THE SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER: How to Break Through To Awesome – Life Secrets From A Martial Arts Master (Mountain Tiger Press) by Tae Yun Kim. Copyright © 2018 by Tae Yun Kim. All rights reserved. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.

Tae Yun Kim is a martial arts great grandmaster, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and the author of THE SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER. As head coach, she led the first-ever U.S. women's Tae Kwon Do team to a gold medal at the Pre-World Games in Seoul, helping pave the way for women to compete in martial arts in the Olympics. Dr. Kim went on to found her own school of martial arts, aimed at overcoming limitations in every area of life. She is also the founder and CEO of Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions, a leading high-tech Silicon Valley company, and has won many awards for her achievements and humanitarian service. She received an honorary Ph.D. in Business Administration from Korea's Sook Myung Women's University. In 2017, she won two Stevie Awards for Women in Business: one for lifetime achievement and the other for best new product. To learn more, visit: www.taeyunkim.com .