WHO YOU ARE DEFINES WHAT YOU DO!

Artist Anne Geddes



Who you are define's what you do,

not what you do, defines who you are.

The first time I heard this saying quoted in this way, was in the movie named "Across the Universe" directed by Julie Taymor. This quote was taught to me the other way around: what you do defines who you are. Now hearing the opposite, who you are defines what you do, started me thinking..

If I live the quote: "what you do defines who you are", what kind of perspective does my Life receive? This is easy. I see my Self now 41years constantly "doing" something. Why? I was raised in a society where it is expected to BE someone. To Be someone means going to school, study a profession, find a job, work hard so I can 'own' as many material things as possible and last but not least create a family and have kids. To live this lifestyle, the saying "I work to live" is well suited. What about I live to work? Another perspective, eh?

I was trained to not listen to my Self, to ignore my dreams and visions. The outer world is the true reality. I was told, there is no use to rebel against reality, you can't change it. I asked my Self many times over the years, is this really it? Within I knew this just can not be right, it felt so wrong. Hope, Faith kept me going on. I was told, you are a dreamer, you think to much, why ask so many questions, find a good job and earn some money, everybody does that. All will be good, be patient, work for your pension, then you can enjoy life. You must be kidding, were my thoughts, why wait? Eventually I chose the Path of the Warrior, I rebelled against all restrictions and had many duells, and still have, with the reality taught to me as truth. Why I ask my Self, is it necessary to do things to define who I am? Am I not already defined the day I was born?

Artist Anne Geddes

Growing up, I learned to behave the way the society in my surroundings demanded. I was told this is the way Life is. If I do things which are regarded as good I receive love and attention, if I do things which are regarded as bad, I receive anger and attention. More or less I tried to be what was expected of me, to be good, to be loved. I wandered this path for awhile, played along doing things, learned to put on many false masks, believing each one will be the last, this is who I am. But eventually this belief that by doing I will find my true identity, that I will find the love and acceptance for who I am, just proved itself as a viscious cycle with no end. Simply said, I no longer knew who I was, why I am here or my purpose in Life.

Breakdown...no body, no identity, no name, just my Being.

Surrealism, Artist ?

During these cycles of no identity, I struggle for awhile in darkness, explore my soul, express my emotions through the Arts, wander about in the woods, live for awhile on my own, search the company of good friends and family. But sometimes these supporting tools through the darkness, just don't help anymore. There are moments of despair, all seems dark and worthless, a joke actually. This moment of being a nobody, is when I stop 'doing' and start to listen within, returning to my Self. The word Cocoon comes to me, yes that is how it must feel like, all wrapped up, the outside world stops to exist. I nest myself in a safe area and allow myself to just be. Stop the doing, stop the belief to have to do something to exist, stop the world I create through my thoughts, stop moving, just breathe in and out. "What you are defines what you do", sounds right!

Living the path of 'what you are defines what you do' is finding back to the true identity, our heart. Peeling of layers and layers of a world based on 'to do'. It is like peeling an onion down to its core. What is left? The onion is still there in itself, but now spread out in layers, not as one. Wait another month and then these layers turn to dirt. Wait a little longer and a beautiful bright yellow Dandelion might grow out of the dirt, created by the layers of my peeled Identity. So yes, Life is a constantly doing, it is Creation. All the layers built up over the living years, creating a fixed image of who we are, will eventually have to be peeled off again to become dirt. With patience our true Being will break through the soil and reveal its true Beauty to the world. If we deny this natural cycle, the onion will eventually rot!

We are actually already born, who we are. Our Being does not have to be reprogrammed, but needs to be recognized and supported by the community we are born into. Allowing our true Being to grow at its full potential. Who we are, our being, is already defined when we are born. Why recreate our selves? There are still human beings existing across the world, who still define their lives by being truly who they are, they are in Sync with Life, especially children. And those who have forgotten their true Being, are on the quest finding back to their true Self, remembering. I am one of them.

Janine, pic Ken Henriksson

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So, remember

"who you are defines what you do,

and not what you do, defines who you are."

Or are both the one and the same?

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Doing from the Heart

Janine