Who Am I? A Question To Wake Up His Conscience

If I ask you if you are sure you know who you are, the question will seem ridiculous to you. Why wouldn’t you know? You are Pedro, Juan, Luis, Sara, Alberto, etc. Okay, but this is just your first name, my question goes much further: with an answer just as simple, but much more fascinating.

This answer is fascinating because it involves growth, work and a little commitment. Thus, it deserves an effort to reach it, for its transcendence and dynamic functioning as a pillar for the rest of the foundations of our life. In this way, I encourage you to continue reading, and so we will discover it together!

Do you know who you are?

Ask yourself this question: “Who am I?” “. Regardless, say the first thing that came to your mind:  whatever it is, there’s no doubt it’s wrong. It cannot be otherwise, since the one who answered the question is none other than your ego. By making use of your conscious mind, the ego fabricates an identity for you, so that you can respond. He makes you believe that you are a being separated from the rest of the world.

He makes you see the world as fragmented and full of separations, and you are one of them. In addition, he does everything in his power to grab everything: he loves to own things. Thus,  he never ceases to strive to create the greatest possible separation between this idea of ​​“me” and the rest of the fragments which divide reality.

It takes advantage of the fact that the conscious mind is in contact with the material world, and in the latter there are limitations imposed by space and time. There are distances and durations, and the ego takes advantage of that. He can create separations as he wants.

For the ego to respond is normal, because it moves you to its playing field: that of the conscious mind. But this does not matter. If you know how to take advantage of it,  you can make it help you to create a certain distance (not on a physical level, but on the level of inner evolution) and thus distance yourself from the ego.

In other words, by taking this path, you will be able to move away from your false “self” and begin to come closer to your true essence. The key is to repeat the question, but remember that it is the ego that answers: its answers are always wrong.

A meditation exercise to discover your true identity

The ego is based on duality. He likes differentiation. To get out of its playing field, it is necessary to take the opposite path: that of unification. To achieve this, it is good to practice meditation. The question “Who am I?” Is a very powerful basis for doing this.

I suggest the following exercise  :

• Sit comfortably,  with your back straight.
• Close your eyes,  and relax.
• Breathe three times slowly and deeply,  fixing your attention on the breath.
• Return to your natural breathing rate, and focus on your breathing. Mentally count each cycle of inhale and exhale.
• If you lose track, start  over from one.
• When you get to ten ask yourself: who am I? Repeat the question several times. Visualize it.
• Stay in a receptive state. Don’t look for anything. Just keep yourself in an alert state, with maximum curiosity about the appearance of every phenomenon, be it a noise, a mental image, a word, etc. At this stage, mindfulness is a very powerful practice. If you train, you will achieve better results.
• As soon as an idea emerges, reject it. For example, if your first answer is “I am [your first name]”, mentally respond by saying: “I am not [your first name], I am the one called by that first name”. If the answer is “I am the director of company X”, answer: “I am not the director of company X, I am the one who occupies the position of director -trice in this company ”. If the answer is “I am this body”, answer: “I am not this body, I am the one who has this physical appearance”. And so on for all the ideas you get.

• Finish. When you want, take three deep breaths, open your eyes, and finish the exercise.

Find out who you are

I recommend that you practice the previous exercise on a daily basis, dedicating the time of day that suits you best  and the time you have available to it. The important thing is, above all, consistency. If you take it seriously, it will be easy for you to keep practicing it, because you will see that it turns out to be really revealing.

Each day you will know more of who you are. It will mean that you are getting closer to your “higher self”. You will understand for yourself that the answer to the question which titles this article cannot be expressed in words. It is absolutely impossible. You can only know it through your direct experience, and this is where the previous exercise leads you.

The practice of meditation, in general, takes you in this direction, from the “lower self” to the “higher self”. When you find yourself too close to the ego, you know who you are. When you reach a meditative state, you come closer to your true essence, and you will know you have reached it when you stop knowing who you are.

You will only know that you are, that you exist… On this path, mindfulness turns out to be very powerful. You can learn it in a practical and applicable way on a daily basis, through the Mindfulness for Everyday Life course.

I wish you happy meditation and may this exercise bring you many benefits in your inner evolution.