Your experiences are not who you are. They do not define you. There are the unforeseen accidents or occurrences that happen randomly. There are also the planned events of life such as going to college, becoming a parent or a teacher or a scientist. Non of these experiences describe who you are. Today. In this moment.
Often when something unpleasant or downright bad happens we hold onto it as part of our makeup. "Our" past. Our identity. But the truth is life happens, good or bad, we learn something and move on. Or don't learn something and repeat it down the road. Repeating it can mean having the actual event happen again, (because we didn't learn to avoid it after the first time), or we repeat it over and over again in our thoughts or out loud as a description of who we are. And often we don't like what we see ourselves as and are afraid of what may happen next. Learning from experience is a very important part of growth and these life experiences can shape our character, but we do not have to become a lifelong victim of circumstances. Nor do we have to hold onto them as our identity. Life can be painful, scary, and often unfair. But when we carry our past as the identity of who we are today it's like looking through an obscure filter of dirty water. All the scary, crazy, ugly things that happened to us in the past just muck up the lenses that we see through today with. If we are doing this then no wonder we don't like what we see, or are fearful of what may happen next. Part of Mindfulness training is becoming aware of how we talk to ourselves, how we relate and interact with this life in each moment and how we see ourselves in the present tense. Seeing the world through our negative past experiences can blind us to the beauty of a new day, and new opportunities. By practicing Mindfulness we can become aware of when we are viewing the present through the dirty lenses of fear, regret, anger or resentment created by negative past experiences. Instead of seeing the world through the veil of our past we can enjoy each new moment as it is born and live it fully. In the coming week I invite you to practice becoming aware of how you see yourself. And when the opportunity arises, notice if you describe yourself as the person you are in this moment, reminding yourself that you are not your experiences. *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified.
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