Current Identity

"Current" identity? Most of us consider "my identity" to be perhaps the only dependable, unchangeable, rock-solid thing we have - something we can hang onto throughout life.

But our self-concept, consciousness, and most obviously our bodies, are all changing constantly, dramatically - like everything else all around us - even during this one lifetime.

Our one choice is how wisely we undergo a lifelong series of inevitable, challenging transformations in self-concepts & worldviews.

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be. I have watched people choose growth over fear as they navigated some of life’s most difficult transitions. I have seen how it is possible to approach the challenges of real life with openness and optimism – even with wisdom and joy.” Elizabeth Lesser. “Broken open. How difficult times can help us grow.” Villard, 2005.

"Mindfulness means significantly more than simply paying attention or attention without distraction. A defining characteristic of the quiet attention of mindfulness is its essential quality of nonattachment to any particular view. The psychological freedom with which this attention is associated is not simply a freedom from the views of others (eg family, peers, culture, or government authority). Rather, it is an emancipation from one's own habitual view of self and the world. As J. Krishnamurti, a noted teacher of Eastern psychology to the West, has observed, 'Freedom lies ... in understanding what you are from moment to moment', and involves a disciplined, quiet mind.

Such emancipation could be viewed as a cornerstone of successful therapy from many schools (of psychotherapy). It provides the capacity to look freshly at one's psychological schemata of self and other. It also is receptive to new information, and thus, is able to conceive and explore alternatives."

Martin J. "Mindfulness: A proposed common factor." Journal of Psychotherapy Integration 1997; 7: 291–312.

Reviewing these may help as you undergo major transitions: • Change readiness: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/07/369-ready-for-change.html • Rigidity: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/01/261-psychological-rigidity-i-will.html • Psychological flexibility: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/04/92-psychological-flexibility.html