Food For Thought - "Where Am I?"

"Where Am I?"
C2002 Gail Pursell Elliott
 

"Time
With it's clouded past
It's uncertain future
It's perplexing now
With full distraction
Distorts the very spot
on which we stand
Propagates the notion that
Our circle is a square
Or the earth flat
And that we might be anywhere
But where we truly are."
- from the poem Time, by Gail Pursell, 1976

As we go through life we often ask ourselves the question, "Who am I?" during the process of defining and re-defining ourselves as we gain greater awareness and our perception becomes clearer.

The question "Where am I?" can be just as important. When a person has been knocked out or unconscious due to trauma, upon awakening will ask the question, "Where am I?"

Sometimes we make major life changes when we 'wake up' and see that where we are is no longer where we want to be. Sometimes we spend time, thought, emotion, and energy wishing we were somewhere other than where we are. Sometimes we feel trapped by circumstances and powerless to change them.

Sometimes we experience déjà vu, the feeling that we have seen a place before. Other times we experience deja poo, and want to clear out as quickly as possible.

When it comes to determining where we are and where we want to be, time is not always on our side. The past has deposited us where we are at this moment and has released us unless we decide to drag it along. The future is uncertain.

One of my life's goals was to be able to wake up every morning knowing that I am exactly where I want to be. It has taken years for me to realize that when I wake up each morning I may not be where I want to be but I am where I have chosen to be.

This is a key point. The realization that where we are is where we have chosen to be is empowering. We no longer have to feel trapped by circumstances when we understand that we have the power to choose. Sometimes choosing to be elsewhere involves risk. In fact, it always does. We know that in making such choices we are creating our destiny and that freedom involves taking responsibility for our actions rather than blaming circumstances. Since we create our destiny through our action or inaction, whether positive or negative, we might as well accept the fact that we are free regardless of the chains of our perception. Once we do this we can begin to evaluate not whether the past choice was good or bad, but simply if it fits with our present experience and make choices based on that awareness.

The person who wakes up and says, "Where am I?" is asking for points of reference. When we wake up and say to ourselves, "I am where I have chosen to be," we create our own points of reference. We set ourselves free.

Have a Great Day and be good to yourself.  You deserve it!

Gail

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