What makes me who I am? What sets me apart? Who is my true self?
In life we usually have the same name throughout it. If we think quickly we will say that it is us, but are we the same person throughout life? And who is this person?
An interview was recently published of a very strong young Greek woman who suffered a vicious attack that disfigured her face. Her beautiful and strong attitude made us admire her whole character, the person she is. She herself, not identified with her face, is so much and so wonderful beyond her face, and it shows us a new, wonderful approach to who we can become. The same incident could have happened to all of us anyway.
In our life we constantly change appearance , beliefs and cellular composition:
Am I the baby, am I the teenager, am I the woman?
Am I who I was 1 month ago? 6 years ago?
Am I the grandma I’m going to be?
What was important to me at those ages, what is important now, what will be important in the future?
We know that during our lifetime our cells all change and many times in our lifetime, we are not the same cellularly, organically and molecularly even compared to a week ago. Also, our knowledge changes, our experiences change and our circumstances change every day, even during the day.
So who am I and what makes me me?
A. I am my physical body.
What makes me me is my outer shell.
Am I my person?
Am I my body?
Am I my health?
Am I my age?
What if that changes?
If I lose all this, am I no longer me?
B. I am my brain.
Am I my inner content, my brain?
Am I my memories?
Am I my achievements?
My titles and occupation?
Am I who I think I am?
Am I what others think I am?
Am I what I Feel?
Am I how others feel about me?
Am I my political beliefs?
Am I my opinions?
If these change what am I? If I lose them what am I? What if I lose my memory and forget them?
C. I am my character
Am I my character? The typical way I deal with events?
My character consists of various intangible traits that usually remain constant throughout our lives, such as:
Humour
Curiosity
Persistence
Ambition
Kindness
The English philosopher John Locke said that “Our personal identity is the continuation of our consciousness”, so my character is the continuation of my traits.
So what am I, after all? Who is my true self?
I am ALL of the above but I am not exclusively SOME of them. And all that can change in time. And if they change again, we are still us. And if we lose any of them, or it changes, we still have so many others that make us us.
What I am is a mixture of all of the above, which changes and everything that I am is unique.
Learn who you are, embrace yourself, forgive him and move on. If you don’t like some of who you think you are, you always have the time and ability to change them. Don’t cling to who you were yesterday, you have the power within you to always be you and always improve.
Good luck on your journey & I wish you always to be what you want to be!
