Who Are You?

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay 

There is a lot of talk about personal identity. And I was pondering what that really means. Imagine you are entering a room full of people. Some are people you know and a few are people unknown to you. So one of your friends is speaking with one of the unknown people when your friend is asked who you are. What does your friend say?

And I imagined that for me it was clear to me that even your closest friend wouldn't be able to explain all of who you are. Each person that knows you would probably have different beliefs about who you are.

If a stranger walks up to you at a gathering and asks "Who are you?" What would you reply?

You might start by telling them your name. And even that might be different to others. Think of all the names that you have gone by. You have had nicknames. If you are a woman you may have taken your husband's name. And there are names for the various roles you have played in your life: Son or Daughter, Mother or Father, and all of the relationship names like that: uncle, aunt, cousin, gramdpa grandma, etc.

And, of course, none of them are all of who you are. Humans are very social in nature and have myriad roles. There are even diminutive names like Honey, Sweetie, etc. 

And interesting exercise I often used in groups was to list all the nicknames we have for men and women. We discover that most of the social names for women are for baby animals or other weak images. Whereas the men's social names are for more powerful or "hard" images. The labels spellings often are more vowels or soft letters for females and more hard consonants for male. Try it. Make a list.

So our identities are shaped by the language we use. And we even might have different perspective of who we are, one that no one else knows. What kind of self-talk goes on in your head? Do you have a positive image of yourself? Or do you think you are less than what others believe you to be.

So, who are you? Try exploring your identity. And if it isn't positive, make some changes in how you think about yourself, how you behave, how you feel. Our identity may not be obvious, so it might be a helpful thing to spend some time exploring all the things you are and want to be. 

Image by John Hain from Pixabay