Who Am I?

"The inner landscape of the soul is a nourishing and melodious voice of freedom always calling you. It encourages you to enlarge your frames of belonging-not to settle for a false shelter that does not serve your potential. There is no cage for the soul. Each of us should travel inwards for the surface constraints and visit the wild places within us. There is no small rooms there. Each of us need the nourishment and healing of these inner clearances. One of the most crippling prisons is the prison of reduced identify. The way we treat our own identity is often Procrustean. In Greek legend, Procrustes was a robber who stretched his victims until they fitted the length of his bed. Each one of us is inevitably involved in deciphering who we actually are. No other can answer that question for you. "Who are you?" is surface question which has a vast, intricate rootage. Who are you behind your mask, your role? Who are you behind your words? Who are you when you alone with yourself? In the middle of the night, when you awake, who are you then? When dawn rescues you from the rainforest of the night, who are you before you slip back safely beneath the mask and the name by which you are known during the day? It is one of the unnoticed achievements of daily life to keep the wild complexity of your real identity so well hidden that most people never suspect the worlds that collide in your heart. Friendship and love should be the safe regions where your unknown selves can come to play. Instead of holding your friend or beloved limited within the neat cage of frightened identify, love should liberate both of you to celebrate the festival of complexity within you. We remain so hesitant and frightened to enjoy the beauty of our own divinity.

There are no manuals for the construction of the individual you would like to become. You are the only one who can decide this and take up a lifetime of work that is demands. This is such a wonderful privilege and such an exciting adventure. To grow into the person that your deepest longing desires is a great blessing. If you could find a creative harmony between your soul and your life, you will have found something infinitely precious. You may not be able to do much about the great problems of the world or to change the situation you are in, but if you can awaken the eternal beauty and light of your soul, you will bring light wherever you go. The gift of life is given to us for ourselves and also to bring peace, courage, and compassion to others."
~John O'Donohue

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