Who are you?

 Are you thinking .... I am a teacher?..... I am a plumber? ..... I am a mother?
Yes - all those might be true and you may be multiple things to many people..
a son, father,  chef,  manager,  taxi driver,  accountant.

They are.....  what you do, rather than who you are.
They are roles you play and defined to some extent by your culture or community and can differ depending even on the time of day
They are things you fill your day with,
They are aspects you aspire to improve on,
They are what brings you income,
They are things that identify you as belonging to something - a community, a household, a family, a job.

Who are you?

I don't know if you're familiar with Michael Singer's work. He's written 'The Untethered Soul', and the 'Surrender Experiment'.
I am new to his work, although his work actually is a very good way of explaining what I have believed and have been a student of for many years.
We are the consciousness that inhabits our body. That's sort of easy to digest...... but it also has a deeper meaning and understanding to it.

For the purpose of today's entry, I'll keep it simple and introductory - although if you aren't familiar already with the concept or the work - this won't feel introductory.
Walk with me on this one, stay open and patient.  Hopefully, this is enough to open yourself into a different way of looking at YOU and your day. Hopefully enough to intrigue but not confuse.

If you are the consciousness that inhabits your body.... then who is the voice you hear inside your head... you know the one.... 'you forgot to pay the electricity bill!, ' what are you cooking for dinner tonight?' .... 'you should've told Wendy that you didn't appreciate her sarcasm', 'why is he looking at me like that?'

The truth is - YOU are not that voice! That is your mind/ego! You are the observer of that voice as you are also the observer of the portion of the day that you are witnessing...
the traffic ahead of you, the account balance that doesn't balance, the phone call you have to make, the long line at the lunch counter, the rain falling, the children playing in the playground, you going for a run or a surf.

If we can start to separate the 'voice in our head' and the distinction that we are the observer of that voice - there's something quite freeing in that.
Suddenly, (or not so suddenly - it's a hard concept to get your head around),  then we have choice in how high we jump when that voice puts us at attention.
Suddenly, we can choose whether we beat ourselves up when 'IT' says we have done wrong, or faltered, or made a mistake, or just got out of bed...
Suddenly, we get to choose a higher wisdom, to make a value call on our behaviour, on our actions, on our perceived faults and limitations, on our forgetfulness.
Suddenly, we aren't at the mercy of some judgmental voice in our head.

That feels like freedom to me.
That feels like I get to be a little more conscious in my every day.
That feels like I get to evaluate who/where I am using my 21st century eyes and values. That feels like I have choice in how I respond to the interactions I have with my environment and my day and the relationships in my world.

That feels like I get to decide what version of my self I choose to be in every moment of every day. I am aware and conscious.
I get to listen and perceive and act with my heart as well as my head.

I am honouring my soul.

Namaste


 Some quotes to ponder when answering 'Who am I'

I'm pure positive energy, deliberately choosing contrast for expansion.
Not just contrast for my expansion.
Contrast for the expansion of the Universe, at large!
Contrast for the expansion of the Source, within me.
Leading-edge contrast, for leading-edge expansion.
Esther Hicks

Descartes, of course, the French philosopher said: "I think therefore I am".
If he had waited a little bit longer before saying anything, he could have come to the point of cessation of thinking and then he could have made the more profound statement:
​"I am conscious therefore I am".
Thinking is only an expression of consciousness: a surface expression of consciousness.
Eckhart Tolle


Due to brain plasticity, whatever actions we do and thoughts we have either solidify existing neuronal connections or create new ones. If you’ve reinforced a thought pattern or habit for years or decades, it can seem like it’s just “who you are.”
But it’s just a well-reinforced network in your brain — it can be overwritten.
Kevin Espiritu

Vertical Divider