We all have an identity that we believe is who we truly are. As if that identity is static from birth to death. It is how we define ourselves.
Ask me who I am and the reply will be – I am me. A man. A son. A brother. A father. A husband.
Yes yes of course.
But who are you really? What is this thing called identity?
I have been so many different identities.
Dishwasher. Cook. Baker. Carpenter. Contractor. Salesman. Graphic designer. Firefighter. Stay at home dad. Cyclist.
Lover. Tyrant. Romantic. Destroyer.
And spiritual seeker. Dreamer too.
But maybe an imposter as well?
Have I really been any of those things?
And when we lose an identity, what then?
Adopt a new one?
Do we add and shed identities like layers of clothing?
*******
How do we ever really know who or what we are?
How does belief cloak itself around us to create a way for us to show up in the world?
I want to please you. I will rebel against you.
I am angry. I am sad.
I am generous. I am stingy.
I am cruel. I am compassionate.
I am a student. I am a teacher.
I am charming. I am sullen.
I am cautious. I am reckless.
I am the blinking cursor. I am the words upon the page.
Still I wonder, who really am I?
*******
I am Life.
For now.
And in death?
*******
I am Life.
Jamie Gilroy is a Mindset Coach working with men to unlock their fullest potential. Are you looking to tweak and improve some issues in your life? Are you interested in a free clarity call to investigate working with Jamie? Email him at jbgilroy@icloud.com Check out his website to learn more about the work he does: https://jamesbgilroy.com
Apparently last night I had been dreaming of a life I left behind 11 years ago. Snippets of memory like peering through a gauzy veil, and scenes vaguely reminiscent of my life as a builder in a small coastal town north of Boston. I woke up with the What Ifs. You know how dreams are: like your eyes can’t completely focus, situations that are seemingly disconnected but maybe not, faces you know but can’t place, yet the feeling in the dream is quite real. I was back in Old Town and trying to figure out why the house I was in was unfinished. There was a meeting to be had there, but it was just me. I walked down a cobbled street to what I figured to be the office of the architect and it was a room of all glass and about 10 people seated around a glass table. I tried to get the attention of the man who was the architect on this particular job without disrupting the meeting. He looked like a friend who wasn’t an architect but a realtor and a neighbor. I wondered how he switched care...
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