1.  Some Thoughts On Healing - What Is Your Identity?

One thing that creates the most discomfort for us in our
personal and professional life is the identity that we
have chosen.  And by identity I'm speaking of something more
than our name or our job title.  The kind of identity I'm
speaking about here is the, often subconscious, role that we
assign ourselves.  Some examples of an identity would be a
hard worker, a devoted spouse, a spiritual person, a
success, a failure, a healer, and on and on.

We create (often in our early years) one, and usually more,
of these fixed ideas of who we are.  And we literally wear
these identities.   Now, there's nothing wrong with any of
the above self-definitions (except perhaps the failure
one<g>). Where we always get into serious trouble is when we
FORGET that they are only ideas, and we think of them as
"WHO WE REALLY ARE!

When we start to define ourselves by a fixed identity, two
problems immediately happen.   The first is that we lose
track of our divine essence and our own inner knowing.  A
simple example would be, if you happen to define yourself
with the identity of hard worker.  Then if we are in the
wrong profession or job (and struggling & unhappy because of
it) our response might be work harder, instead of this is
not who I am, this is not where I belong.  Much misery,
suffering, even illness, can come from this simple
misperception.

The second problem that happens is that, when we define
ourselves by an identity, we lose track of our universal
connection with others.  We set up an artificial polarity
and separation between us and "them".   If we are a
spiritual person there must be others out there who are
NOT spiritual. If we are a good person there must be BAD
people out there.   From these polarities come much of the
judgment, prejudice, and conflict in the world.

Perhaps it's time to ask what are my identities?and  do
they serve me?.


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3.    An Energy Exercise You Can Use Right Now (Letting go
of the fear of letting go).


  "There are only three things you need to let go of:
judging, controlling, and being right.  Release these three
and you will have the whole mind and twinkly heart of a
child."
----Hugh Prather


The following exercise is from Hugh Prather's wonderful
book, "The Little book of Letting go".


Release 1 (Suggested time: 1 or more days)


The next time you are in a store, restaurant, mall,
workplace, or just walking down a crowded sidewalk, pick out
one or, if you have time, two or three individuals, and, in
turn, practice becoming them for a few moments.  How does it
feel to wear their clothes (can you feel the cloth against
your skin?), to have their hair or no hair, to walk as they
walk or cannot walk, to gesture as they gesture?  Do their
eyes occasionally look to the side or dart around like all
of our eyes do, as if the one inside who is looking out is a
little uncertain, a little vulnerable?  It's a very big,
unpredictable world out there.

Without analysis, inferiority, condescension, or
perspective --- in other words, without thinking about
it ---  what is it like to feel as they feel and think as
they think?

Try doing this today, and if it is enjoyable, for the next
few days.  Perhaps you will be struck with the ordinariness.
Perhaps you will sense that we are pretty much alike, and
that we are all in this together.  And perhaps you will feel
a little sad for the occasional person you see who tries so
hard to stand rigidly apart, only to find loneliness and
isolation.