Who am I?............

 Such a simple question perhaps, yet, many of us spend our

whole lives trying to answer this particular question.

So, who are you?

You, who are reading this right now, who are you?

Do you at times find yourself asking this question?

Commonly, when asked who we are, many of us tend to

answer with what we do.

Although identifying ourselves with what we do may

for some of us very well be who we believe ourselves 

essentially to be. If asked who we are, we may proudly

 answer: I am an artist, a plumber, a preacher, a doctor, etc.

(For some of us what we do may be so intertwined with who we

are that we often do not experience any real 

separation between the two.)

In my view, the question as to who we are applies to our

internally motivating mindsets, as in our core values, our beliefs,

our guiding moral and ethical principles.

In short; that which we experience as our essence, that which

we call ''me''.

So, here's the thing that I have discovered and would like to

share with you: Who we are is not necessarily a permanent position,

who we are is more of an ongoing process.

That which we call ''us'' is made up of a mixture of our thoughts,

what we've heard, seen, experienced, been part of, believe,

have read about, people we've known and know.

Our identity is constantly being molded and remolded

by our life experiences and what we perceive and make of them.

Sometimes we may go through experiences that makes us 

question who we are, the choices we make and why we made

them in the first place.

Much as we may prefer for life to be predictable, it seldom is.

Unpredictable events can challenge our core beliefs and

unsettle our sense of who we are.

 A single sentence can potentially make us question

all that we thought we knew about ourselves and have 

us on our knees. As in for instance: ''You have Stage four cancer''.

(I was once told that I had stage 2 cancer and that I

had to book myself in for surgery immediately.

A few words and just like that my life was balancing

on the edge of a surgeons knife.)

Joy is a friend, pain is a teacher, I have decided.

Going through really difficult times, regardless of

what the difficulties may be, is always a challenge.

But it is also an opportunity to grow, to learn,

to change and to embrace rather than fight against

uncertainty/unpredictability.

''It may be easier to live through a ''make-believe'' self,

a self that is strong, independent and confident,

than it is to stare your own self down and find

it wanting.

It may be easier to ignore moments of self-doubt and

insecurity when such thoughts can be easily

rid of by confidently stating: ''I am who I am''.

It may be less frightening to ask the question ''who am I?''

when the automatic answer is always 

''that's just the way I am''.

But does that really tell you who you are?

(Citizen Z)

''We are always in the process of becoming.

Self-identity is a fusion of our prior decisions

and our current thoughts.''

(Kilroy J. Oldster)

If you feel that you somehow seem to have

miss-placed or lost some part or parts of

yourself maybe these words may be helpful:

Try to doubt yourself less.

Allow intuition to guide you.

Embrace those bits in you that you like.

Observe your feelings.

Self-reflect regularly.

about the image: Photographic image made from scans, real

bark and a leaf, edited.