Thursday, January 14, 2010

Do we know ourselves?


Used with permission: CC, paurian


Who am I?

For that matter, why am I asking you? Really, I didn't mean it rhetorically. Shouldn't I be able to answer the question better than you can?

In an introductory post (see Why do I blog?), I said this blog would be about three types of connections: people to people, people to ideas, and ideas to ideas.

Did I miss one? I think I might have. How many of us are well-connected to ourselves?

The older I get, the less I know who I am, pulled in more directions, increasingly disconnected from who I was.

We are ever on a journey to become ourselves. The question is: do we ever get there?

Watch this video that introduces us to someone who knew exactly who she was:



Can I say with that sort of certainty that I know who I am? Can I tell you, "I'm Jeff?" I think I'm more stuck between "I was Jeff" and "I will be Jeff."

It's the curse of complexity.

In City Slickers, the character Curly taught us that integrity and identity are found in simplicity: Focus on one thing.

What's your one thing? Who are you?

I'm Jeff. At least, I'm pretty sure I'm Jeff.

Stay tuned in case anything changes.