The interviewer for the position I was applying for leaned forward in her chair, looked at me squarely, and asked, “How would you describe yourself?” It occurred to me that she was asking how I would define my personal “brand.”

In our current culture, there’s much discussion about enhancing one’s personal brand and too little thought given to what truly defines us. If all we’re doing is focusing on charisma, charm, and attraction, we’ll soon run up against limitations and disappointments. Believing that anyone’s basis for success or failure is shaped largely, even exclusively, by a human psyche compels us to focus on outward appeal rather than on discerning our true character.

Christian Science offers a view of identity that’s so much more than a material personality bound up with both talents and flaws, strengths and shortcomings. It explains authentic individuality in relation to the all-good Spirit or infinite Mind called God. It defines identity as Spirit’s image and likeness and therefore as unlimited in its expression of spiritual qualities, such as intelligence, creativity, inspiration, unselfishness, and joy.