Discovering our true selves requires first lifting reflections and obstructions

Often I heard people say they are trying to find themselves.  What does self-discover mean, and what does it entail, I would ask myself.  Used to think it meant trying to understand where our personal motivations came from, the things that our social environment taught us as children that has shaped who we are, what we want out of life, and what makes us “happy”, etc.  There is a lot of “nature” versus “nurture” debates.  Chan meditation greatly simplify this whole exercise.   You no longer look backward to discover who you are or what motivates you.  In fact, you do not need to look at all.  Instead, you should try to lift the murkiness that is the layer of scattered thoughts and obstructions that prevents you from looking directly at your own self-nature; from understanding yourself.  Once you have quieted your mind and it is merely you and mindfulness, you come much cloer to knowing who you really are by directly examining your actions.  You are no longer looking at reflections masking as your motivations, those are illusory and are the thoughts and images from before being projected by ego above–and thereby, blocking–your view of self nature.