Identifying with a Role

As we go through life we receive and select various roles or identities. The role of being a mother, father, grandparent, teacher, doctor, lawyer, successful business person, wise therapist or brilliant scientist. The list is endless. They can be roles that we and society consider “praiseworthy” like a successful athlete or diminishing like “uneducated” or “uncreative”. We even identify wth roles like “the quiet one”, “an introvert”, “the hero”, or “the victim."

Having recently lost my wife I find myself identifying as a “widower” or the “grieving one”. This can keep me “stuck” in the grief. While of course I am going through these passages, it’s not who I am. Very often we don’t recognize the depth or strength of our identification.When identified with a role the ego is guarding our image. If we are challenged it can feel like the other is attacking our self-worth. When dropping the role we can hear them more clearly and not feel personally challenged.

In truth we are none of these roles. We are the vast, unknown, undivided consciousness or awareness that underlies and pervades every one of us. We are all interconnected. No one is above or below another. There is endless freedom in this both in life and as we face our death. I witnessed this with my wife in the time before her passing. Because of her endless exploration of her spiritual life she met her illness with grace and calm. She had no fear. She said that beyond her form she was awareness and that after her form dissolved she would still be the undivided awareness -that her soul, journey in this form was complete and it was her time to move on to the unknown.

What a blessing to live with that understanding. I encourage you to take time to explore the various roles you have assumed, to see how strongly you identify with them and to see how you might let go of that identification. Feel it in your body, listen to your heart. In the end the heart is the most reliable guide. It’s the doorway to the ultimate truth. You are Love itself, connected to every one and everything.#Love #roles #identifucation #meditation #awareness #yoga #heart