The gift of true individuality is that it has no need to be recognized as such; it places no demands on anyone to acknowledge its unique character because its essential character is uniqueness itself. The “unessential” life is the struggle for approval, for acceptance . . . always trying to get other people to confirm the image we hold of ourselves. A real life is without this stress because it is based in the expression of an individuality that needs nothing outside of itself in order to feel whole. Can you find anything in the universe that isn’t created for the specific purpose of fulfilling a task that only it can do or be? From a distant cluster of stars to a microscopic strand of our own DNA, everything is created in its essence to express what nothing else can. How can we—for whom all things created exist—be less than that? We do not create individuality any more than a towering pine makes itself rise above all else; it is our interior right to know the integrity of singularity as each of the following key lessons points out. Study each on its own until, by its light, you can see the possibility of a new kind of freedom that takes nothing more than being true to your Self.