I'm currently reading this, tough to read and understand, book by the name, I AM THAT.
It is a Q&A compilation of Nisargadatta Maharaj translated in English by Maurice Frydman.
Actually, I am re-reading it.
Nisargadatta Maharaj ji was a guru of Non-dualism, a beautiful and liberating concept.
But what I'm going to write about today is somewhat related. I came across this concept a few weeks ago and I tried to put it to test. It's about asking ourselves, Who Am I today?
Our mind creates stories constantly, and so many of those stories aren't real. The monotony of this inner dialogue is unrelenting, and if we're not careful, we'll begin to believe the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the world. This leads to suffering. The more the stories created, suffering ensues, everywhere.
You'll relate it with the identities you would have created for yourself, based on the make-believe stories you wanted to badly believe and latch on to. Thereby, making you rigid and a tamed prisoner of your identity. You feel stuck. You'd have told yourself and others, but "this is who I'm." and either believed it to be true or wanting the other person to take you for who you believe you are.
But back to the context. I got worked up many weeks ago. Doesn't happen to me too often. So, I decided to get to the root of it and work internally. So what I did was simple. Thanks to this concept I learnt.
Whenever I felt too strong about something due to the beliefs I had, or the emotions I felt or the identify of self I had created, I just asked myself "Who Am I today?"
Suddenly I feel free to be just about anything, and after a period of being stuck with the rigidity, I become fluid again. I can be anything I want to be and nothing at the same time.
I love meeting my friends. Or talking to them. Despite knowing them for years and may be talking to them almost every other day, I still feel the rousing need to know them better. In my head I think who are they going to bring out today? Which version? Which character they bring that day? This has made me less judgmental and non-assuming as I'm open to accept each of what they bring out.
I have started seeing it in my conversations with my colleagues at work as well.
We keep changing, unintentionally, and subconsciously, constantly.
It is astonishing how underrated the concept of change is, truly!
I encourage you to ask yourself this same question:
Who are you today?
Maybe while you're at it, ask it to your close circle as well. Allow them to answer it. See where life takes you when you ponder upon this simple yet deep question.
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