Who Am I?

Am I Who I Think I Am (or Am I ‘Someone Else’)?

“Who am I?

“What an absurd question. It’s obvious who I am, and who you are, I only have to look in the mirror and see, don’t I, to know the answer. 

“I only have to remember what’s happened in my life, or ask my friends to tell me who I am, or failing that my siblings will remind me.

“But I don’t really have to ask anyone else to know who I am, do I?

“It’s quite absurd, it really is…”

 

 

 

Who Am I? – Not An Absurd Question, After All…

It turns out that “who am I?” is actually a very interesting question. To ask of yourself. And the answer takes you to a very interesting place. And when I say you, I mean YOU of course, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, I’m starting to see that I’m not who I think I am.

Whether this has come to me via the teachings of Sydney Banks and the Three Principles, or it’s via The Work by Byron Katie by Byron Katie (“Who would you be without your story [of you]?”), or it’s via non-duality teachings by the likes of Rupert Spira or Adyashanti or even the rather lovely laughing ‘unit’ that goes by the name of Fred Davies it doesn’t really matter.

Truth is truth.

Enquiry is enquiry.

And a question is a question.

“There are many paths up the mountain, but there is only one mountain.”
– Swami Kripalu.

[Seems I think I’m someone who likes inspirational quotes 😉 ]

And I simply want to enquire into the ‘truth’ of who I am, by asking myself this question, in a variety of ways. Specifically, I want to explore some of the personality traits I have (beliefs about my behaviours) and explore how ‘true’ they are.

Not so I can fix them, or change them, or move past them – so I can simply enquire into these so-called behaviours and ask myself, simply, is this really who I am?

 

 

 

“Who Am I?” Huh? Seriously Steve, why Bother?

Seriously, I just want to play with what I’ve noticed about myself, these past 53 years of life (and counting).

For example, I’m someone who thinks that I don’t like to be criticised. (So even though I seem to be happy to record personal videos and write personal blog posts, I’m also happy NOT sharing my opinions sometimes, too – not disagreeing and not entering into dialogue with others – and not publishing other forms works of fiction and non-fiction.) Well:

1. What if I DID like being criticised? What if that were possible? What then?, and
2. What if I could see for myself that ‘being criticised’ is and only ever can be in the ‘eye of the beholder’?

Yes, I’m kinda curious about what might come of asking myself this “who am I?” question, if truth be told.

I’m kinda hoping I might ‘loosen up’ a bit about who I think I am and who I think I am not (what I think I can and can’t do). And I’m kinda hoping you might do the same, too – you might just want to play along. But that’s the very least I expect to get out of this ‘project’. Who knows, I might even find out – for real – who I am…

Whoo hoo!

(Because if you’re not who you think you are – who is it that wants to know about ‘free will’, for example; who is it that is desperately frightened of climate change or Donald Trump or Brexit; who is it that you think about more or less every waking moment? – then WHO ARE YOU, and how do you know what your life (or any life) is supposed to look like? Riddle me that!)

 

Who Am I? – Some Personality Traits I’ve Been Noticing…

Some of these traits might feel familiar to you, I’m sure, and some of them not so. Hey ho! 7.2 billion of us, we can’t all be EXACTLY the same… Can we?

• I like taking on the role of WISE ADVISOR (See not ‘getting it’, below!)
• I LIKE TO COMPLICATE THINGS (Turn a ‘practice’ into videos and blog posts.)
• I’M A FAN OF ‘META’ (I like to write about what I’m writing about!)
• I DON’T LIKE BEING CRITICISED (I don’t like being ‘wrong’)
• I DON’T LIKE NOT ‘GETTING IT’, not understanding (I don’t wanna look foolish!)

I came up with 33 – yes, 33! – traits or behaviours that I identify with. Eeek!

Who am I? Let’s find out, shall we!

“To realize it’s your own creation… your own misery is your own creation. That’s pretty humbling. It changes everything to see that. How seriously can you take yourself in the light of the fact that you’re making it up.”
– Jack Pransky