Discovering Who You Are
by Catryce

Who are you? Deep down inside, on a level that isn't influenced by others, what is your soul identity? To answer the question of who you are, you might want to be clear about who you are not.

Who You Are Not

We so often associate who we are with what we do. We give ourselves titles, like doctor, lawyer, housewife, engineer, to represent who we are. However, you are not your title, you are not what you do. Your roles are constantly changing, such as student, parent, teacher, artist, or even president. What you do depends on the choices you make. Who you are always remains the same.

When describing who you are, don't become trapped by your physical characteristics. For instance, you could tell me that you are a 5'8", seventeen-year-old high school girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and weigh 115 pounds, but would that tell me anything about who you are? Are you merely just a physical body?

What about your name? In telling you that my name is Catryce, what have you actually learned about me? My name is merely a sound to which I respond, it is not who I am. A name may carry a specific vibration or translation but it is far from one's true essence.

What about your beliefs? If you tell someone that you're a Christian, a Buddhist, or an atheist does that express who you are? No, you are merely stating your belief system. Your beliefs can and do change all the time but who you are is constant and unchanging.

You also are not your interests or your personality. These change as you grow and develop in life. You are not anything that changes.

Learning Who You Are

To learn who you really are, you must strip away everything you call yourself. Forget your occupation, your role in life, your name, your beliefs, and any other way you identify yourself. With all of those titles and descriptions out of the way, what do you have left? You might say, "I am no-thing." A Buddhist or a quantum physicist might agree with you completely, but I think there is something else in the statement, "I am no-thing," that we need to take a look at -- the first two words!

After we have peeled away every adjective from our being, we are left simply with 'I AM'. What does this mean? If you'll bear with me for a moment and allow me to use a little biblical dialogue, I will give you an explanation of 'I AM'.

In the Bible (Exodus 3:13 & 3:14), Moses asks God what name he should refer to him by when he addresses the Israelites. God says to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Even if you are not of Jewish or Christian believe, the words 'I AM' should be very familiar to you. You use them all the time. I AM tired. I AM thirsty. I AM a poet. I AM a man. I AM a woman. If GOD is I AM and you are I AM, what does that tell you about yourself?

I don't mean to imply that you are GOD, but I'm also not denying that fact that you are GOD. Are you confused? Let's see if I can explain this with more detail.

GOD is ALL that there is. No-thing (there's that word again) exists outside of GOD. If you exist, then you exist within GOD, therefore you are not separate from GOD. You and GOD are ONE. Since everything is of GOD, then you are ONE with everything and everyone.

Being Who You Are

Now that we've established that you and GOD are one, we need to think about what we can do with this knowledge. First of all, we need to realize our potential. If we are a part of GOD and GOD has no limitations, then, in fact, we have no limitations. That's what I said, YOU HAVE NO LIMITATIONS! To say that you can't do something is untrue. You may not know how to do something at this particular moment but that doesn't mean that you couldn't learn how to it. You may also choose not to do certain things but that is simply a choice you make. Just because you choose not to do something doesn't mean that you aren't physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally capable of doing it.

Since you are a part of GOD and you can do anything, what will you manifest in your life? Will you dedicate yourself to helping others? Will you express love and compassion to others? In giving to others, we are giving to ourselves. Because we are all one and we are all GOD embodied, we should treat one another as GOD and as a part of ourselves. To reject another is to reject yourself. To love another is to love yourself. To nurture another is to nurture yourself. Anything you do to another, you do to yourself.

From now on, when you say the words 'I AM', be mindful of what you are actually saying. If I say, "I AM Catryce," then I AM saying that I AM ONE with GOD. If I say, "I AM a writer," then GOD is a writer. GOD is everything you are, every experience or thought you have, everything you do, and everyone you meet. In order for anything to exist, it must be a part of GOD for, as I previously stated, NO-THING exists outside of GOD.

Awakening to the 'I AM' realization is the most important discovery of your life. Knowing your true essence, as a facet of GOD, and your connection to all that exists will have a dramatic impact on what you choose to do in life, how accepting you are of others, and the way you view yourself. Now every time you begin a sentence with the statement, "I AM," you will be reminded of who you truly are!