If I ask “Who are you?”, I will invariably get a name and probably a relationship and/or work perspective.
While your name is very nice to have, it is little more than a label which identifies you from others. It is also nice to hear that you are (e.g.) a mother, a daughter, a friend etc. etc., but that just gives me your links to other people, rather than explaining who you are! You may tell me that you have some professional designation in a particular field, but that simply gives me an indicator of your expertise.
So often one just gets the quick answers, but are they really well thought out answers? It is so easy to regurgitate what we have heard many times before and simply hope that the question will go away! It is so easy to offer all the perceived “correct” answers, but will those answers really reflect your core beliefs of life? It is so easy to simply believe that you are totally in touch with yourself, and yet…. if you occasionally feel that there is something missing from your life, perhaps you are not as totally in touch as you would like to believe.
If you have contemplated a change in your life, but are uncertain about which direction to take, then you really need to re-establish an intimate relationship with yourself because the answers are almost certainly within you. If you are finding that external pressures are causing stress, then again you should get back in touch with your inner-self and the route to a satisfactory resolution will almost certainly be found.
So… this is all very well, but where do we go from here? I have had a couple of “soul searching” experiences which I would describe as invaluable in my development over the years. I am going to give you the guidelines and the steps …. and look forward to hearing the outcome in the context of your life.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
A New Direction Perhaps? 
“Who are you?” Usually my answer would be my name, profession and academic qualifications! You are spot on, Colin. It is food for thought. Heading to read the other posts in this series 🙂
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You won’t believe this, but just yesterday morning I was drafting a post along these lines – revolving more from the angle of how would someone else introduce you or how you would introduce someone else – and what you captured – “It is so easy to offer all the perceived “correct” answers, but will those answers really reflect your core beliefs of life?”! I am now heading over to read the second part…
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Agreed with much of what was written in the comments…especially looking forward to part 2!
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good food for thought – looking forward to more!
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Hi Jodi. Unless you have been this route before, I think you’ll find it interesting.
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I don’t know if we will ever really know who we are. Of course, the reflexive answer is what role we play here. But basically, that is what the counterpart wants to know. If we get to that core of who we are, I think I would say something different tomorrow than I would say today… we are developing and revealing our inner being more and more over the time… a life-long self-discovery!
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Stay tuned Erika. I think that you will like where this is going. 🙂
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I am looking forward to the sequel, Colin!
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My answer to that question is situational. If I am at work after hours and a policeman asks, the correct response would be my position at the church. Or a my husband’s workplace, my relationship to him. Ok, ok, I get where you’re going with this… see (or read) you tomorrow. 🙂
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Looking forward to Part 2, a certain poem came to my mind while reading this. 🙂
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Care to elaborate?
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“Journey through a Picture”…. I think you may be familiar with it. 🙂
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Ah yes! Another journey of self discovery (Excerpt below for readers who are not familiar with it. The complete version is in my book “Just Thinking” (A little book, for when you have a little time, with some little writings, which may produce some little thoughts), which is available from amazon and other on-line book retailers.
Take a walk along the path
Down across those hills
Pause a while at the guiding tree
That stands alone and still
Now you have stopped
Just wait a while
Think about your life
What have you done?
What could you do?
Look upon the guiding tree
With colours so clear
Think about humanity
Think of someone dear
Think about the time you’ve lost
Living for yourself
And about the bridges you have crossed
Think…
Think…
Just think… about yourself.
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🙂 🙂
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I had almost written an excerpt from it when you asked if I cared to elaborate. 🙂
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Think about yourself, listen to yourself, and be loving towards yourself. It is a profoundly important journey. A journey where the traveling is so much more interesting than the destination.
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Absolutely Paul. So many get side-lined by issues such as “people pleasing”; living to another person’s agenda, or quite simply not understanding which direction they should be traveling. I am reminded of a quote (author unknown) in the context of success – “There can be nothing worse than climbing to the top of your ladder, only to find that you had it propped up against the wrong wall!”
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