Best Self Magazine

Return of the Gentleman: The Art of Living Authentically

The Return of the Gentleman: The Art of Living Authentically, by Dain Heer. Photograph of man's hands buttoning a suit coat by Andre Hunter
Photograph by Andre Hunter

A true gentleman is not a role player, but rather a man who lives his truth

I have a question for you. 

What if the biggest obstacle keeping you from being the greatness that you are, is the fact that you are pretending to be someone you are not?

Just take a moment to consider that. How does it feel? 

Light or heavy?

How does the idea that you might be playing a part, or a role, in your life rather than living as you, feel to you? 

Is it a possibility? 

That’s all for now — we’ll come back to that question soon enough. 

Letting Go 

In this first part of our journey I’d like to invite you to explore ideas around role-playing, and how, as a man, you may feel you have to put on an act, play a part, be someone else — just to meet external expectations (and maybe some internal ones too).

If you choose to join me, I’d like you to get to a point where you can identify if you are playing a role in any of the relationships in your life and invite you to see how playing certain roles may be obstructing your capacity to be YOU. When you are aware of the roles that are holding you back, you can choose something different. When you choose beyond the roles that are holding you back, you begin to be

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