We can be more than our habits, says professor Michael Puett.

These are some of the things I have been practicing to stay connected to my true self and narrate my life from this place. If they feel and sound like a fit for where you are on your life journey, try them out and see how they land.

So here are the 11 signs of a truly authentic person:

On the long flight home, I thought about my fears before the event. I didn't think I was good enough. I thought I would stand out -- in a bad way. I thought that they would not accept me. And you know what, these thoughts kept me small.

As a young woman in the 1960s I defined beauty according to an ideal I saw in magazines -- one I had no hope of meeting. That didn't stop me trying though. I ironed my wild hair, lemon juiced my freckles and did the coconut oil thing in the hope of getting a tan.