Who Are You?

We are constantly deciding who we are in our lives.  We are always evolving.   Who I am today may not be who I am five years from now, next year, or even tomorrow.  We always have a choice of who we are in everything that happens.  Who are you in regards to your body, to your soul, to your family, your friends, the drug user down the street, the priest at your church, to your pet dog, to the price of gasoline, the new iPod your Uncle Bob got you, to world strife and hunger, and every other aspect of this life?  

You always have a choice in every moment of your existence, a choice of who you choose to be in regards to every Now moment.  Remember that the past is in the past, the future is yet to come, so the only moment that matters is right now.  So who are you –right now-?  And whom do you choose to be?  Do you like where you are at and what's going on?  Do you like who you are?  If not, make another choice.  It is really that simple.

Situations and events are as they simply are.  Let me explain.

You cannot change the fact that you were just in a car accident (let's say).  It has happened, and now you are paralyzed.  You do not have a choice about the situation, it simply IS.  This is the IS-ness of the situation.  However, now you DO have a choice of deciding –who you are- in regards to the IS-ness of the moment.  Are you a person who gives up, becomes angry, bitter, withdrawn, and creates a life of hell for yourself?  Are you a person who becomes resigned and victimized, who enters a deep depression and chooses not to fight?  Are you a person who refuses to let this stop you in life, and you then work to do the best you can to heal and to work with your limitations to have a full life?  Do you choose anger, despair, and the victim role, or do you choose joy, love, and life?

Let's say the opposite, and that you just won the lottery.  This is the IS-ness of the moment.  Who are you in regards to this IS-ness?  Are you a person who goes out and happily spends and spends every penny until your prize is gone?  Are you a person who is highly generous and gives all of your money away to friends and family, even strangers?  Do you defend your newfound money from everyone else, hoarding it away and keeping it all to yourself?  Do you use your money to help others and the planet?  Who do you choose to be?

Perhaps you were born to abusive parents.  That is the IS-ness of your life.  Who do you choose to be in regards to that?

Perhaps you have an amazing talent for playing the piano, but you were always poor and never had the money to go anywhere with it.  Do you keep trying, keep playing no matter what?  Do you give up and forget about the piano?  Who are you?

These are extreme cases of course, but this is the choice I am talking about, the choice of every Now moment.  Who do you choose to be, sitting there in front of your computer reading this?  Who are you in this moment?  Who do you want to be?  No one can choose but you.

I know that I have changed dramatically over the last few years due to this choice, this choosing.  I had to go through several major lessons to really see -Who I Am Not- to find out -Who I Am-.  We all do, because how can you ever find out Who You Are if you do not first see Who You Are Not?  I will continue to change my definition of Self as I go through this life, trying on different ways of being and discarding others.  What has served me in the past will likely not serve Who I Am tomorrow.   Health, jobs, location, living arrangements, friends, relationships, what I am into, favorite things…all will change, will come and go, and all will help to define Who I Am, and Who I Am Not.

This sort of change is inevitable in every single one of us.  This is called growth.  This is our soul's growth, and like the children we are, we are ever learning about ourselves, trying on ways of being, keeping some for awhile, discarding others.  However, you have always been –you-, and you will always be –you-.  It is what you choose to –be- that ever changes.  

So make a new choice, in every moment.  I encourage you to strive to choose that which is the highest choice –every- moment, and you can be the best version of the highest vision you ever had about yourself.  We can all do this, and doing so together we might just save this world.  

It is our choice.  

So…who are you?