Being Yourself
Since the 1970′s, it’s been common to hear the expression, “I just want to be myself.” Intuitively, we know that most of our manifestation is part of a masquerade, that a lot of what we’re doing and a lot of what we’re saying isn’t powerful. Part of us remembers what it was like to be three or four years old, to be innocently incisive and irrepressibly honest. We are trained out of this honesty in favor of a perspective that places great importance on never disturbing anyone, never hurting anyone’s feelings. A glimmer of civility can be seen in this, but it’s usually accomplished at the price of sacrificing awareness.
Let’s face it, children are great at pushing buttons. Unfortunately, most adults have a low emotional IQ. We identify with our buttons. We don’t know our buttons from us. When someone pushes one of our buttons, we often defend it with our lives. It’s a shame, because having one of your buttons pushed is a great opportunity to discover where you’re not free. We don’t see it as an opportunity for two reasons: we don’t know who we are, and we don’t know how to release.
If you remembered who you really were, would you be snapping at someone because they put your toothbrush in the wrong place? “You know I always put my toothbrush on the right side!” And for this little thing we feel like they don’t respect us anymore. Perhaps they are as bored as you are with the comfortable status quo, and are not-so-consciously trying to return some aliveness to your relationship.
If you remembered who you really were, you would know that you can’t be disrespected. This is a great piece of wisdom from “A Course in Miracles”. “The Son of God can’t suffer.” Who you are is the Son of God. Since you are suffering, you must have made a mistake. You must have created a misperception, and then placed yourself at the effect of that misperception. This is your choice. There is no question that you feel like a victim to the situation. But, there is a difference between a feeling and the truth.
The truth is that which never changes. Who you are is like the sky. Everything that happens to you is like the weather. Weather, like emotions, or life situations, comes and goes, can be mild or severe, and can be beautiful or dreary. Who you really are never changes. As soon as you identify with any weather, you suffer. When you remember who you really are, you see the beauty of the weather for what it is.