- Today, we're gonna do a skill
that I use in the cancer world.
It's from a book, "Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery"
and the meditation is called, who are you? Right?
Sometimes we get bogged down by goals,
rigor and roll of the day that we forget who we even are,
what that means.
How do we know? Right?
So all we have to do with this goal
is just to get into a position of comfort.
So uncross your legs,
let that blood flow all the way through,
just get into a comfortable position.
And as you know, and people out there in the world,
just listen to my voice.
This is a silent meditation.
So I'm going to ask you to ponder different things.
You just ponder it in your head silently, make a note.
Your mind is made to wander off.
So if it does wander off,
just come on back to what I'm saying.
Okay?
Don't judge that.
'Cause it's supposed to, that's what it's supposed to do.
Right? - Right.
- So kind of getting in a creative space,
inhaling and exhaling.
And thinking about the part of your body
that may be very, very neutral.
Finding a place that's neither uncomfortable or comfortable,
but may neutral.
Maybe it's the tip of your nose.
Maybe it's your big toe or your ear lobes.
And really search for that place and the sensations
that are there.
And letting that place go and just take two deep breaths.
And I wanna ask you to ponder a few things about you.
The questions that I ask, you may not have answers for.
That's not the goal.
The goal is to simply ask the question. Who are you?
Let's start with the obvious things.
Are you a woman? Are you a man?
Are you a mother? Are you a sister?
Are you a student?
Who are these things? Are you these things?
What would it be if these things were taken away
and you were not?
Would you still be who you are?
Let's think of the more practical things.
Are you your car? Are you your career?
Are you what you do day-to-day?
Are you writing a book? Are you exercising?
Are you the clown? Are you the charismatic one?
Who are you?
What if these things too were gone?
Who would you be then?
Let's think of personal characteristics.
Are you your hair?
Are you your body?
Are you your smile?
Are you your personality?
Are you the way you treat people?
Yet again, if these were absent,
would you still be who you are?
You're not the same person that you were when you were born
and things change.
Are you these things?
What would you be?
What if you lost your legs, you lost your job,
your ability to speak,
your ability to see, your ability to hear?
Would you still be who you are?
Taking all these things and pondering them, who am I?
And also thinking that perhaps
you are more than all of this.
Perhaps the essence of you is so vast
it can't be captured in these things.
So you are who you are in this wide web of the world.
Even without these things.
You're something greater than your goals, than your mishaps,
than your lack of confidence, than the way you present,
than your hair, than your makeup, than your clothes,
than your body.
Your ability to be strong. You're more than that.
So when we feel like we're falling,
it's not necessarily a failure.
It's a part of you as an essence.
And always knowing that life is transient,
things can change, but who you are, the essence of you,
remains the same.
And taking a deep breath and blowing it out
and opening your eyes.
Who you are is just a simple reminder
you are not these things.
You are not your lack of goal setting.
You're not your lack of accomplishments.
You're so much more that even without these things
I can't even quite say,
I can't capture into words an essence of a human being,
but you're more.
You're in this web of things
And that's great.
So grand, it's more than anything we can do.
(light music)