Today I started an identity project. Who I am, where I am from, what is my story and my history, why do I think the way I do, and where am I going.
I know. I know. It sounds like big stuff. It sounds that way, because it is.
How do you teach others how to be better, kinder, and more- if you are struggling, empty and feeling unworthy. It’s hard to do. In fact, its near impossible. How do you become more than past hurts, past experiences and how do you let go of the weight of life’s baggage you have somehow accumulated?
Everybody has it, hurt and baggage, at one point. How quickly a person is able to process, work through and discard is the only variables between individuals. No one gets out of life unscathed.
Part of the process of looking within is to be honest. It is reflection. It is looking deeply into questions of why. Why do I think that? Do I really believe that? Who taught me that? What are their reasons behind teaching it that way? Part of it is acknowledging where protective measures come in to play, unconscious or conscious protections from the truth. Part of it is childhood misconceptions. Part of it is learning and family supports or lack thereof.
What does not change is that we all have a choice. We can bear the burdens of our baggage or we can learn, process, and search for help and be better. Better than the person we were just a minute before.
I am not saying this is easy. I am not even saying it can be finished within your lifetime. It is a lifelong process. And so, I work on my art- knowing this is only a reflection of me in a lake-susceptible to the smallest ripple and it changes again.
