YOU

   You, me, and probably most others, must have been asked at a staff meeting, a class, or even a group get together, to stand up and introduce yourself. Would you please tell us about yourself? Please tell us who you are.

Now just like the rest of us, you stood up, if courteous enough, and said:” my name is X,  I come from Y, and I have done Z. Of course paying attention to your selection method of information that pertains to that specific gathering, be it a class, or a job, or whatever else that you were attending at the time.

My question is, have you attended one of those meetings with yourself. A meeting where you would be the one asking, who am I? such an introduction of who you are to yourself would be far more important than doing so in front of anyone else. In fact, if you can’t answer that question, or have not answered that question clearly to your own self, no matter how good of a conversationist you could be, you will not deliver a true and honest answer. An answer that would truly describe to others, important others or not, who you really are.

There are few aspects that pertain to our human existence as people living a life with a past, present and future desires. Aspects that we collect over time through experiencing life, and some that we hold so dear to us, that end up as methods we use to identify who we are: favorite foods, favorite activities, talent, history, likes and dislikes, characteristics, social status. Some are more solid than others such as gender, or ethnicity. Incase you had one of those ” I object” moments, yes even gender and ethnicities are aspects that we collect, formulate, or are channeled into over time.

Let’s place all of what I mentioned above into a category I like to call the collectibles, and the reason I do so is because I’m about to strip you of all of what is not really you, or yours.

You are not a male or a female, as both are descriptions that society has come to a collective conscious decision to what they really mean or stand for. Maybe biologically, but that does not have to be you. Don’t forget your body is just the result of a genetic roll of dice that makes it male, female, tall, short, black, or white.

You like Chinese food because of a lucky break Chinese food got some where along your life line. Chinese food was simply at the right time and place when you had it, only to be followed by a precise chemical reaction strong enough to place this experience among your favorite foods. Same goes to the sport you picked up, and the the talents you developed. Your mannerism, your dress code, style, and behavior, are all nothing but either the result of a precise set of circumstances that you have experienced at very important periods of your development, or winning characteristics that made it to the top of the food chain in your psychological jungle at some point in time.

I imagine that it’s pretty easy at this point to deduce my thoughts on all of what you have been through or have achieved in life so far. None of it is who you are. I want to strip you down to you.

Pardon me if I haven’t been clear when I asked, who are you?

The YOU I speak of is you at the purest level. The you that is left when you, are stripped of all the so called COLLECTIBLES. What is left then? What YOU, remains then? If any.

Well, I think plenty …….

If you are able to get down to such naked level of you, well you’re battle would have just started.

You know what, why do you like Chinese food?

Why are you patient or impatient?

What happens if you never picked up basketball or knitting?

What if you are not a shy person or have never really been?

Would you still be YOU?

What would happen if you questioned the most reliable things you know of yourself?

You would never sky dive, you don’t dance, you would never approach a person you are attracted to and ask him or her out, and you most certainly would never go skinny dipping. Well this week, do all of the above. Give that YOU, that you think you know, a jolt of of emotions you have not experienced yet. Get out of your comfort zone. Confront your obnoxious boss and tell him off, because even though you are not a confrontational person, you might be.

Are you uncomfortable yet?

Revolt against the YOU that has been so far the result of your life and what it has brought you. Give birth to a free YOU that is unidentifiable to any, unrecognizable by any, a YOU that, only you can tell is there.

That’s exactly it ….. That is the YOU I am talking about. The feeling you are experiencing right about now… This new feeling of ….. Well… YOU.

You are now naked and striped down to the bone, a person without wants, desires, favorites, likes, dislikes, and gender, a person without a name that your mom and dad felt goes beautifully with your last name when you were born.

If you are able to feel a YOU at this point, then you have won that battle.

Winning the war would be to start there, and only then start attaching these collectibles that you so mistakenly though were representative of who you are.

If you do so honestly and boldly, I can guarantee you a YOU that is really representative of who you are.

Don’t forget that if you were abandoned in a jungle and raised by wolfs like Mogly from ” The Jungle Book” you would have probably thought that you too were a wolf, and that’s ok if that’s what YOU, really feels like.

Good luck!