Who am I?
Querida Amiga,
When’s the last time, if ever, that you asked yourself, “Who am I?”
It is not a one-time and done kind of question-answer session. We are ever-evolving beings.
Who we are from year to year is a collection of memories, experiences, relationships, thoughts, and feelings that are impacting how we see ourselves and how we see the world.
When we pause to ask ourselves who we are, we are allowing ourselves to process how we are engaging with who we are within and the world around us. Who we are is a mixture of what naturally lives within us and what we have absorbed from external influence.
Asking yourself this question could cause you to freeze and say, “I don’t know,” or inspire you to list a variety of identities that you consciously connect to. Regardless of which of these is your initial response, I guarantee you that there is more waiting to be discovered under the surface.
We often don’t give ourselves the time and space to release the words within us wanting a voice. There may be a variety of reasons for this: it’s easier to focus on others than yourself, you are worried you won’t like what you hear, you feel guilty not already having a clear response, or you have never been fully seen and heard and the idea of it makes you uncomfortable.
In order to live a thriving purposeful life, we need to untangle all of the memories, experiences, relationships, thoughts, and feelings to gain clarity about who we are at our core. You already know what I’m going to say about doing that work, it will be a slow process. You won’t have a clear and succinct elevator pitch at the end of pausing and asking yourself, “Who am I?”
Here is an exercise that I offer you in order to have a process to begin your untangling:
Ask yourself, “Who am I?” Write, voice record, draw, or whatever else feels freeing to you what your response is to the question. Ask yourself again, “Who am I?” Again allow yourself to open up and flow in your response to the question. Keep asking yourself this question over and over again for at least 5 minutes (feel free to go longer if you are in the flow). Do this for 5 minutes a day over a week or month.
Over time you will begin to untangle all the memories, experiences, relationships, thoughts, and feelings to come to the core of your being. When you are able to fully see and hear yourself, it will be hard to show up in the world as anyone else.
We need you to show up in the world as the true essence of yourself.
Please let us see and hear you.
Quiero saber de ti. Who are you? What do you need to show up as that person every day?
Un Abrazo,
Michelle
