Sit Mindfully for 5 or 10 minutes and then bring the question “Who Am I?” to mind. Below are some areas for exploration..
“Who am I?”
Am I this body?
This body is in a constant state of change – cells die and are then renewed each second – within 7 years my body will be completely renewed. My skin, nails, hair all grow and then fall away – do ‘I’ fall away too? If I lost a limb, am I then less who I am? My breath is part of my body – when I breath out do I lose a part of ‘me’. The food I eat becomes my body – at what stage does an Apple or a Donut become ‘me’? Which body am I – the child, the teenager, the adult, the corpse?
Am I my mind? I can observe my mind – I can improve my mind, fill it with new ideas – WHO is doing these things. I can even observe myself observing myself – why is this possible?
How do I define myself? By job, career, wealth, stature, looks, gender, religion, nationality? – If I got amnesia and forgot all my personal history who would I be then – would I be ‘nobody’? Would I still have the same set of problems or goals?
Who am I in relation to the natural world from which I arise and without which I cannot even exist? In order to exist I need the energy from the Sun, gravity, food, water, the Earth, space.. – are these things separate from me – could I survive without them? Is this important?
Remember that the questions are just POINTERS to a deeper understanding of who you are. You don’t need to find ‘definitive’ answers. Intuitively ‘feel’ what the questions are pointing at – then stay open to that feeling. Should your mind settle down then rest in the silence until your mind draws you in again.