R2 Thoughts for You Really, Who Are You?
Really, who are you?
The real you is __?__. I don’t know about you, but I can’t give a definitive answer to that fill-in-the-blank statement. I just can’t hit the proverbial “nail on the head” when I’m asked to explain the real me. Why?
And, before I go any further, No, No,… I will not be referring to the famous Who song, “Who Are You?”
I know, I know, the words are pouring out of our minds. We almost sound like owls. :-)
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
But, at the end of this post, I will be quoting some lyrics of another famous song. Read on and think about who you really are.
Really, who am I?
I think many of us have a problem when we are asked to explain who we really are. We have many images of ourselves. I know when I look at a picture of myself, I immediately think about whether or not it really reflects what I think I look like. How many of us look at a personal picture taken many years ago and say something like, “I can’t believe I ever looked like that?” Or perhaps, someone tells a story involving you and you think, “I don’t believe that is the way I was then.”
The point is that we often have a difficult time knowing who we really are. Of course, pictures and stories about us are not the same as the real thing. We are always changing and never can we take a snapshot of ourselves and expect that to be who we really are.
But, there is a part of us that continuously tries to hold on to what we think we are. It’s that egocentric part of our thinking that places us at the center of the universe and considers us to know who we always are. It’s the thinking that says, “The only thing I know for sure is me!” But, how can this be? Consider what this kind of thinking really means for you.
When your ego is in control, you tell yourself to keep on trying and if you aren’t getting what you want, then just try harder. You say things like the quote from the Apollo 13 movie, “Failure is not an option.” Often, our egos will turn our lives into catchphrases, in which some become mantras. Take for example phrases like, “That’s just the way I am.” or “I’m too old to do …”. I have heard people make statements like, “Just so s/he is happy.” and “You should always follow your dreams.” These statements, though not necessarily bad statements, are generally unrealistic.
Well, who am I?
Let’s look more closely at some of the catchphrases previously mentioned and consider what is unrealistic about them. “You should always follow your dreams.” Suppose your dream is to become a President of the United States. Well, we have had forty-four presidents. As of today the estimated population of the United States is 310,000,000.What are the chances of any citizen being president?
Or, consider the catchphrase from the Apollo 13 movie, “Failure is not an option.“ I suppose that phrase implies that success is the only option. So what should we do when we fail? And, we will fail, sometimes!
It’s seems to me that we should strive for success, but always be prepared to deal with failures. I believe there isn’t one human being who hasn’t failed!
So, who are you, really? Do you always follow your dreams? If so, then, if your dream is not working out, shouldn’t you change your dream to fit reality. Even when a dream becomes reality, it is temporary. The same is true for success. They are only temporary states of being.
Who do you know that has her/his world filled with only dreams and/or successes? The only thing our world is filled with is reality! I think we are much more likely to have a fulfilling life by making our thinking fit reality, instead of trying to make reality fit our thinking.
I am the court jester, I said!
So again, really, who are you? I don’t think you can ever say who you really are. You are always changing. Trying to say who you really are is like using a snapshot of yourself to say what you really look like. Oh, I know the snapshot will give a representation of you, but it will never display what you REALLY look like. The snapshot is only a two-dimensional picture of you frozen in time. You are not frozen in time and really do look different from the snapshot.
I have asked many times in this post the question: “Who are you?” You might be interested in how I would answer the question: “Who am I?”
When I first started this blog, in December of 2008, I was faced with that question. I wanted the About Me page to reflect the answer to that question. Wow, what a difficult question to answer! Well, I answered it, and my response appears on the About R2 page which has a special tab at the top of all my posts. Click here to read it. If you do, you will notice a “play” on the lyrics to the ♦Neil Diamond song, “I am … I Said”.♦ To hear Neil Diamond sing the song, click here.
Here’s an lyrical excerpt from “I am … I Said,” to get your thinking started AND keep it going! Enjoy!
♢Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein’ a king
And then became one
Well except for the names and a few other changes If you talk about me,
the story’s the same one
But I got an emptiness deep inside And I’ve tried,
but it won’t let me go
And I’m not a man who likes to swear
But I never cared for the sound of being alone
“I am,” I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair
“I am,” I cried
“I am,” said I
And I am lost,
and I can’t even say why
Leavin’ me lonely still.♢
R2 Thoughts for You 