The indelible you

Everything else is exposition

One of the most comforting thoughts I’ve heard is that we each have an unchangeable core.

Maybe that’s scary if you want to change. You CAN change your actions but beneath those everyday choices is a you that is designed to be exactly who you are.

The way I think about it is that life is a layer outside of the canonical you. Feelings, thoughts, and experiences that we associate with “ourselves” are not a self at all.

They exist around you but they are not you.

YOU are the place you can come back to time and time again to rest. Nothing on this earth can take you away from yourself.

This belief that my core is indelible has been helpful for me when I’ve experienced times of great challenge and change. Job loss, long stretches of sickness, situational upheaval, or depression. I was so afraid of losing myself. In times of cavernous fear this thought was a light shining through.

Stillness, self-listening, saying yes to your needs are all ways to touch your core.

It might feel that you lose grip on yourself when wild experiences, thoughts, and feelings flood your life. But layers deep, you are still there.

And you always will be.