Who we are or who are we?

The question rages on through the centuries.

I recommend that you read my first article if you don't have any idea of Buddhist ideas about mind.

That said we are exactly who we believe we are. And we have the life that person would have. We pick the shoes that person would pick and have the job that person would work at. Because we believe we are that person.

Some of you may be thinking "what do I believe I am."

A person creates the life they have based on what they believe. Sounds simple, it usually is not that simple.

You see you may believe your Dad (sorry Dad) is an arrogant, suborn, aggressive, man. And we may have said you are never going to be like that. However half of your genes came from him and he taught you everything you now about handling life’s situations.

On the surface you may be fooling yourself that you could be mistaken for Gandhi. While you boil on the inside keeping the Gandhi mask on for the world to see.

I mentioned you have created your life out of what you believe and what you believe is based on events from the past that you made stories up about. You may say "I am so calm and happy". And you may notice you seem to getting sick more than your friends?

You may be deceiving yourself, using a lot of energy keeping pup a false face, and suppressing your immune system with mild depression.

So in the beginning you are a bunch of negative beliefs and a bunch of positive beliefs. Your positive beliefs about yourself are forgotten because they are non- threatening to your ego.

The negative beliefs however need to be justified, categorized and hidden from the world.

What is the best way to hid them?

Pretend to be the exact opposite until you convince the world that you are what you are pretending. We are smartest of rats are we not?

As I pointed out in my first article we make up who we are between 3 and about 15 years of age.

You could keep pretending worried about being found out, or start looking closely at what you believe.

Honestly write down what you believe and re-examining it now with the perspective you have now.

Together with a close friend you can bring the light of the present to any issues that come up from the past. The memories loosen the grip they have on your life and you can see it clearly. The clarity is an opening where you can invent new beliefs about yourself and what you are capable of.

What you believe about yourself changes and you change right along with it because you are what you believe