This post was written and submitted by K.J. Wilson:
The title is a seemingly easy question, isn’t it? How did you answer I though? Most likely you answered with your name but is that who you are?
Who you are isn’t your name, where you live, what you do for a living, or any of the common answers that are usually given. Who you are is much deeper than that.
You have probably heard or seen that saying that asks, “Who were you before the world told you who you were supposed to be?” Who is that person? What is their life like?
When you were young what did you want to be when you grew up and are you doing that? If not, why did you stop wanting to do that thing? What made you change your mind? Life? Work?
Responsibilities? What is it that, even now, when you see or hear someone else doing that thing you feel a pull inside yourself to want to do it too? Maybe you feel it’s too late or you don’t have time or whatever else you think and so you don’t pursue it but you’d really like to, one day.
What is something about yourself that you would like to change? Do you have negative reactions like anger, jealousy, insecurity, or some other? Do you not think of yourself as smart enough? attractive enough? out-going enough? something else? Many, many people have been told by family, friends, and life experiences that they are lacking in some way or another, or in many ways, and it is so easy to internalize it and let it become a belief about yourself and that’s who you become but is that who you are?
I’m sure it’s true that you are different from other people but why should that be a bad thing after all why would any you want to be the same as someone (anyone) else, individuality is a gift. There is another saying, “If you’re following the masses then you’re going to wrong way.”, don’t get me wrong I know people want to be accepted by others but I believe that it’s more important to be accepted by yourself first, the others will come later.
No one is any different than anyone else we’ve all just experienced life in different ways and that has shaped us into who we are today, the thing about it is we can start to recognize traits, habits, and reactions in ourselves and decide if that’s who we want to be or not. If it’s not then we can work on those things we don’t like and change them, to work on where we are in life and change that, to work on what we are doing with our lives and change that, we owe it to ourselves to be as happy as we can be.
Change (Rebirth) is not always easy or pain free, at times it’s quite the opposite in fact, but that’s true of most everything that lives and changes. When something, or someone, changes it usually involves risk, fear, and some pain and there’s really no way around that if someone wants to make a profound change in themselves, but people do it every day. It can be done and there are plenty of examples if you were to look for them.
If you are reading this then I assume you already walk a Spiritual path of some type so you, probably, already understand the paragraph above but if someone is new to this type of thinking it can sound confusing and maybe even a little scary. That is absolutely normal.
Change, a new direction, a new way of thinking, new opinions and teachings from those that you are learning from, all these can be a bit much to take in and think you can incorporate in yourself and your mind but isn’t that true of all new experiences in life, everything is hard or misunderstood until it’s not and then you realize it wasn’t that big of a deal after all.
If you came to me for guitar lessons and I started teaching you then I told you I wanted you to play at an open mic would you be scared? Most everyone is, until they’re not and then it’s no big deal.
If you decided to write an article (like this one) for a magazine (like this one) that could possibly be read by people all over the world, some of which who’re I’m sure are much more knowledgeable than myself, would it make you nervous? Probably, until you had done it a few times and realized that it’s not nearly as bad as it was the first time you did it.
Whichever path a person decides to walk will have moments that will seem extreme and confusing but then one day they won’t be like that anymore.
There are quite a lot of things that people consider problems or setbacks that aren’t that bad once you start doing them it’s just your mind getting in the way. The trick with anything is taking that tiny first step, and then the next tiny step, until your confidence grows and with confidence comes courage and then your steps aren’t so tiny anymore. I started down my Spiritual path in 2009 and if the person I am today was to tell the person I was back then how far I’ve come he would be amazed.
Are you, deep down, a writer? An artist? A shop owner? Who are you?
In today’s world there is an abundance of help whether that comes from the library, online in discussion groups and other various chats, local groups that get together, or wherever you find it there is information and encouragement out there for whatever stirs in your soul, all you have to do is look for it. Seek and ye shall find as it’s said.
Don’t be put off by the big picture but look at the smaller individual steps and you’ll find that the way opens up for you but only as much as you are ready to move and understand it and even then it may take a little time to be fully understood. It’s perfectly normal for it to be confusing and a little scary when you’re moving into new territory but as the Higher Powers help you to understand and comprehend things, you’ll know why things happened and had to happen as they did.
The more you fully accept and embrace who you are and the talents and desires you have inside you the happier and more at peace you will become, and the more that happens the better the world around you will become because like attracts like.
Imagine doing what makes you happy, imagine it all working out in your favor, imagine you understanding the things that seem impossible right now, let your daydreams guide you.
No one should tell you that it will come easily (at least at first) or that you will always be successful (that’s not how you learn and get better at something) but with time, patience, imagination, and doing something over and over (each time a little better than before) you can do whatever thing it is that you’ve always wanted to do. Everything is possible so, Who Are You?
Dream in the Extreme.
K.J. Wilson