Who do you think you are? Who do you choose to be?
I grew up with a very Italian Grandmother, and Great Grandmother.
My Great Grandmotherâs folks came over from Italy in the late 1800âs. They were traditional Italians, and didnât speak a word of English.
Naturally, I grew up thinking of myself as being quite a bit Italian. It made me feel rather close to Italy, and to have a special fondness for that culture.
I recently did a DNA test, and guess how Italian I actually am?
1%
Yep, one percent Italian.
How could that be??
I started digging into the family tree, and learned that those very âItalianâ relatives (the ones who moved to the US in the 1800s) were actually Spanish! They were descendants of a Spanish Count, who had moved to Italy.
Today, I sit with the odd feeling that I am not exactly who I thought I was. Not better or worse (although I do like the idea that I might be a Spanish Countess :) but aware that the solid feeling of knowing who I am has been a bit destabilized.
And this is a great thing, because none of us are exactly who or what we think we are.
We are Universal Energy (or whatever you personally prefer to call it) playing out life in this body. We might mentally or spiritually âknowâ this, but do we really live in the full awareness of it? Are we still defaulting into the assumptions that we are the limited person that weâve known ourselves to be all of our life? This can be deeply ingrained, until something occurs that shakes our identity.
When that happens, stay shook.
Resist the pull to re-stabilize. Feel what itâs like to remove the confines of your limited self. What is the experience? How do you view life without the âyouâ being present?
Feel the openness, the newness in your vision. It can seem a little bit like being a foreigner in a new country where you’re seeing things for the first time and taking it in, wide eyed and amazed by it all. There is such freedom here.
In meditation, we can seek to find that experience and practice expanding the time that we can stay in it.
Of course, the pull of identity is strong, and it can serve a purpose if used strategically. If you want to, you can play with identity, trying on a few different ones the way young children might play dress-up. Try wearing an identity loosely, and have fun with it.
This is an exciting way to create the life you want. We know this is a world of attraction, and we get what we focus on. In my book, More Than Just a Pretty Space, I guide you through the process of choosing an identity that speaks to your heart, and then designing your home to match it.
In this way, you can create a life of your dreams…
For now, Iâll be taking on the identity of a beautiful Spanish Countess. đ
Hasta luego!
