I kinda started in on this when I was flat on my back last year and much more free to think. I've identified a few things which are me, but I don't think it's something you can do overnight. You can't ever dismiss everyone else's influences on you, because nobody lives in a vacuum. Those influences go to make up who you are, and that's not a bad thing, but you need to be able to spot the difference between things that you enjoy or that really mean something to you, and things that only mean something to you because of that other person.

There are lots of books around for helping wih just this problem, but finding ones which help *you* takes a fair bit of work. I've found that Simple Abundance is good because it helps you to look back and find out more about yourself, finding out what's really important. Exercises like looking at what you enjoyed as a child are good, as are things like picking out a few jobs you'd really like to do if you had a choice of anything. Another book I liked was the one by Julia Cameron... ummm... The Artist's Way I think. Lots of exercises in that one to help you figure out what's real and what isn't.

Just don't try and do away with everything. Anyway, we quite like the bits of you we've gotten to know so far, so there must be something good in there!

Kerri.