Who are you really?

Do you feel the pressure to keep up with those around you? Or are you the sort of person who has made a commitment to yourself and those who you care deeply for to just live your life by your own standards?

The truth is…only you can answer this question and no one else. Only you know the answer to this question.

But beware….this is not a simple question and whatever answer emerges cannot be simple either. As one must first cultivate and appreciate honesty with the self….sounds easy, but it is easier said than done.

————————————————————

‘When a man or woman is shaky. That is to say when one is insecure about one’s appearance, social standing, intellect or whatever that can be compared under the sun with others…it will definitely show in words, acts and thoughts.

Try as hard as you may to camouflage this lack….but to the perceptive observer it’s as clear as day.

Do not take this personally. I too am insecure about many aspects of my being. This is the way of the world when we neglect to nourish and tend to the important and instead choose to be distracted by the vapid and worthless.

One can observe this even in nature. A tree that has shallow roots shakes only to eventually fall. A dog that is afraid can never stand it’s ground – it will fidget and constantly look for signs of affirmation….but it can never stand and defend it’s ground.

In the same way when a man or woman does not see the wisdom of ever cultivating his or her inner core. He or she can only be shaky.

The tragedy about modern life is it pays scant regard to these vital aspects of life – instead the marketing apparatus is designed only to encourage us all to improve the external to to disregard completely the inner core.

Thousands of books are written every year on what is the best diet that will help you narrow your waist and improve your complexion and defy aging – but very few are written on how not to be shaky all the time and to develop the inner core to remain respectful and loving to the whole idea of who you were always meant to be.

As a consequence the slightest insult will throw us off balance. The merest slight will send us off from our planned trajectory and much of life is spent impersonating a pin ball where we bounce around, up and down only to end up disappearing into a hole.

But a tree that is well rooted is like a person who has very strong and deep core – though it bends and sways with the wind, it can never ever be uprooted. It’s impossible. In the same way when one cultivates the core of belief in the way one wants to live. When one sees the wisdom of investing time and intellect in shaping this idea of how one aspires to manage oneself or and others – then all this talk about comparing oneself with others disappears completely.

It suddenly becomes a useless preoccupation.

Suddenly one has a plan…a bigger agenda fills the mind scape..where they might even be a timeline where we even expect a season for good things to come our way.

I once told a kendo exponent who reckoned he was a very great swordsman that he had neglected his core – as though thru the years as a result of bad teaching and being fixated on just winning. This exponent had accumulated a bag of worthless tricks and trinkets which might have worked quite well with less experienced exponents – but he was really rootless when facing off against someone who had a very strong foundation…a core so strong and deep that even before he could launch an attack, it was annulled at the level of the mind.

This man became so flustered he turned beet root red and challenged me to duel.

To which I replied, are you so blind that you cannot even see how you have just demonstrated how shaky you really are?

To which he lowered his head in shame and remained so silent lost in his own thoughts. After that day he renounced his nonsensical ways and dedicated himself to strengthening his core. Today he is a great swordsman.

Rediscover your core…go deep….and commune with it and above ask yourself – who are you really?