original art by June Shatken at juneshatken.com
“So, what do you do?” someone asks when they meet you.
That’s certainly easier than asking “Who are you?” Less threatening, less intrusive. And this is how we pigeon hole each other. An unconscious categorization. We get assigned a Dewey Decimal System number and get filed into the card catalog. We create categories for our work, profession, industry, the things we do for a living. Oh, okay, so now I know who you are.
What are you missing out on?
We often do the same thing with ourselves. But, when we identify ourselves as what we do, we begin to believe that that’s all there is to us. We lose sight of the layers of wonder that are just below the surface. Our essential, multidimensional selves cry to come out. We miss out on a whole lot of awesome
I know this to be true because I have experienced it myself. My Dewey Decimal System number fell in the category of fiction because what I did was truly not who I was.
This knowledge, this truth, led me to create a Multidimensional Life I could never have imaged had I continued with the fictional version of myself.
Oh, and another caveat: You may not always do this thing that has defined you for so long. What will happen then? You will feel lost.
You are so much more than what you do every day.
So, who are you beyond what you do?
But this little loaded question is everywhere.
One example: turn on Jeopardy and you will be introduced to the contestants with “Jane, a blah, blah, blah from anywhere, USA.
Now it’s not that I don’t’ care how Jane spends her time, but I know that she, too, is so much more than that. I wonder who she is.
So, who are you?
Questions to ponder
- What makes you laugh so hard you snort diet coke out your nose?
- Who makes you do that?
- What makes your eyes well up?
- What color are those eyes? Who had them before you?
- What is a mannerism that is so you? Or do you see someone else in it?
- Who do you love? What is it about them that you love the most?
- What do you love? Why?
- What brings you delight? What does that delight feel like?
- What do you dread? Why?
- What do you avoid? Why?
- What route do you take each day to get home? Why?
- What do you have for breakfast each day? Why?
- What is a favorite book/move from childhood?
- If you could time-travel, where would you go?
A challenge:
- Buy a notebook – the wide ruled, not the college ruled. The college ruled is too tight and a little intimidating.
- Put these questions in the notebook. Add more of your own as they come to you.
- Put the notebook in your cabinet with the coffee or tea. Or with your cereal or in the fruit bowl. Put it anywhere you will be guaranteed to visit each morning.
- Each morning (or most mornings), pick a question. Jot a few answers to a question, maybe just a few words. That’s all. If you’re inspired to go further, that’s fine. But you only need a few lines to get the thinking engine started.
Leave a comment below and let me know how you do with this challenge. Or contact me to explore taking this process further.
What you’re doing is beginning a blueprint of the multidimensional person you are.
Because, you are so very much more than what you do each day.
