You are not your thoughts. I had a much needed conversation with Greg last night, and since then I have been thinking about a lot of different things. I am very much stuck in my head. Although I am doing much better than I used to, I still currently struggle to live in the moment because I am constantly analyzing my experiences as I experience them. I place so much importance on every interaction (because my paradigms have taught me that I struggle in social settings), on every opportunity (because I currently struggle with feelings of self-worth, and experience has taught me that I don’t do well under pressure), and on every task (as I have identified myself as someone who works unnaturally hard and I feel I must live up to this identity, or else lose touch with who I believe myself to be). I have of course heard the opening statement (you are not your thoughts) many times before, but until yesterday I don’t think that I ever fully comprehended its’ meaning. Exasperated I said to Greg “Well, if you’re not your thoughts, then who are you?” It’s certainly a valid question, as who we believe ourselves to be is tightly wrapped up in our past experiences – the main topic of our thoughts.

If you accept that you are not your thoughts, then you must also accept and recognize that you are also not:

Your doubts (you are not that little voice inside of your head that insists on predicting the future with the most unwanted of resolutions).

Your failures

Your successes

Your status

Your job

Your fears

Your insecurities

I’ll say it again: If you are not all of these things, then who are you? You are your unedited feelings. You are how you behave and interact with the world around you moment to moment. What you did in the past has no bearing on who you are in the present. You are in control of your actions moment to moment, and there is no one holding a gun to your head forcing you to act in a specific way because you behaved in that way in the past. Moment to moment you have the power to do it differently.

You have the power to think a different thought, to smile when you’d usually frown, to speak up when before you’d hang your head, to engage when you’d usually hide, to run when you’d usually walk.

You are in complete control of the “you” you present to the world. It is you who choses your identity, not the other way around. Every one of us has an “idea” of who we are that is usually based on the above. The statement “but that’s just the way I am” is a far too commonly used phrase/excuse in todays world. You are a constantly evolving being, and any identity you’ve fashioned for yourself is etched not in stone but in clay, and you have the ability to remold that clay into whatever shape you choose. You are in complete control of your identity, of your life, and of your decisions.  So own that power. What would you do if you weren’t afraid? What would you do if you weren’t “restricted” by your identity. Well, good news: you aren’t. So shoot for the stars.