Oscar Wilde once wrote: "Be yourself - everybody else is already taken."
Good advice from from the 19th century Irish writer and poet.
Especially today. Because well over a century after he penned this pearl of wisdom, thanks to the huge number of media outlets, role models can be created in the morning and go viral by the afternoon, unconsciously influencing our sense of identity.
This can be especially true when it comes to our health.
Even when we are not unwell we are daily bombarded with well-meaning advertisements promoting various medications. Then there's the plethora of advice as to how right eating and exercising can either help us maintain what we have or recover what we have lost.
Not surprising then that many people end up effectively defining themselves and others by their outward appearance, their ailments and even, given recent DNA advances, their potential diseases too.
It's a trend that seems to have been bolstered by the massive profusion of health apps that offer to track or manage a range of conditions. Over 13,000 are now just a few keystrokes away. And although there is evidence that demand for them is not keeping pace with their increasing availability, it has been forecast the number of health and medical app downloads will have soared to 142 million by 2016.
One of the latest digital self-help offerings is Facebook's new anti-flu aid that almost takes the friendship out of being "friends". If it sees any reference to coughs and sneezes among your online comments it will flag you up as a potential health risk. And woe betide you if your posts appear late at night - you will judged to be suffering from a lack of sleep, therefore possibly unhealthy and consequently someone to be avoided like the plague.
Doesn't that suggest it is important to take control of our own thinking, even though that doesn't seem too easy given the information overload that at best encourages and at worst demands that we think and react in certain ways.
The benefits of resisting these outside impulses can be immense according to the large number of studies which are increasingly finding our thoughts have a direct impact on health outcomes.
The importance of what we let into our minds saw stem cell biologist and bestselling author Dr Bruce Lipton pulling no punches in a recent discussion about the need to govern our thinking.
He explained that before he began to learn how to recognise and rid himself of "negataive thoughts" he wanted to be anybody but who he was. But as he gradually became more adept at replacing the "programmes of limitation and disempowerment" he had been fed while growing up, that "completely turned around".
Lipton said: "Wonderful things started to happen in my life. I was healthier. I havent been to a doctor in 20 years. I didn't take any of their drugs. Why? because most of the illness is just from the stress of not living in harmony..." It was then he realised "heaven" was right where he was.
He added; "Those people who are happy are healthy."
There is certainly a considerable body of research which suggests happiness, forgiveness, gratitude, altruism and the like can result in significant health benefits. So, too, does laughter, being spiritually-minded, attending church regularly and praying.
Equally, scientific research has shown that opposite thought paradigms like stress can cause considerable harm to health. Harvard researchers estimate up to 90% of doctors' visits are stress related.
I believe these facts are helpful pointers to how a different sense of our identity can help our health.
On numerous occasions I have found myself more consistently able to hold those healthful qualities in mind and more willing to drop the opposite character traits by steadfastly identifying myself with the divine source that Jesus made so evident in his healing love.
It has involved refusing to allow my understanding as to who and what I am be shaped by more limiting, materialistic opinions and views - not only of my own identity, but of "my neighbours" too, as the Bible helps me to see.
As Lipton, myself and many others have discovered, everyone who can think has the resources to take control of their thoughts and effectively re-identify themselves in a better, more spiritual light. I don't always find that an easy thing to do, but I have often experienced the healing benefits of doing so.
It is certainly worth giving it a go if it might result in a happier and healthy you.
About Melvyn Howe: Following a 40-year career in journalism in news and court reporting, I have been turning my pen to writing about health. My specific focus is on the relationship between consciousness and wellbeing and between spirituality and health. My own practice is Christian Science and I am also a media and legislative representative for Christian Science in the UK.