Who We Were Vs. Who We Are

January 20, 2010 · Posted in Tao 51 views

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“Sometimes people think of themselves as who they have been and forget to keep being who they are.”

Life is a series of experiences. As we live, we make choices related to those experiences. Over time the choices we make become based on similar choices we made in the past instead of being a new choice based on the current situation. This is accompanied by sayings like “that’s how it’s always been done” and “I’ve grown up now” as justification.

Before our growing history of choices, as a child and even young adult, we were “carefree”. We lived for the moment. We took risks. We were ourselves. But with each new choice we made, we slowly covered our fluid motions with structure. Moment by moment we cemented ourselves into a statue-like shell.

There comes a point where we forget what it was like to be who we are, because all of our choices become based on who we have been through the years. Nothing is new. Colors are not as bright. We have it all figured out. We know how the world works.

So what’s the point? Existence for the sake of just existing is hollow.

The exciting thing about choices is that at any time we can change how we make them. Just because “we did it that way in the past” does not force us to do it that way again. What has always worked doesn’t have to be what only works.

Look at each new day as an actual, bona fide new day. There may be similar moments, there may be similar choices to make, but they’re still unique and the one and only time you will get to live them. Why treat them as mundane? Look at the world today without preconceived perceptions.

Look at everything as if it were the first time. Because on some levels it is the first time, and what you actually see is being obscured by what you have decided to see. You can be that person you once knew.

If you have forgotten who you are, just let go of who you have been.

Tags: experiences, life, past