This is today's Daily Om:
As We Ebb And Flow Through LifeAnother way of looking at this is that we develop subpersonalities as we grow up, as we assume new roles, and as we enter into relationships with new people. These subs are roles that we play, usually unconsciously.
Changing Roles
As we bob and weave with the ebb and flow of life our roles change, but our true self remains constant. As spiritual beings having a human experience, we go through many aspects of humanity in one lifetime. Living in the material world of opposites, labels, and classifications, we often identify ourselves by the roles we play, forgetting that these aspects shift and change throughout our lives. But when we anchor ourselves in the truth of our being, that core of spirit within us, we can choose to embrace the new roles as they come, knowing that they give us fresh perspective on life and a greater understanding of the lives of others.
As children, we anticipated role changes eagerly in our rush to grow up. Though fairy tales led us to believe that "happily ever after" was a final destination, the truth is that life is a series of destinations, mere stops on a long journey filled with differing terrain. We may need to move through a feeling of resistance as we shift from spouse to parent, leader to subordinate, caregiver to receiver, or even local to newcomer. It can be helpful to bid a fond farewell to the role that we are leaving before we welcome the new. This is the purpose of ceremonies in cultures throughout the world and across time. We can choose from any in existence or create our own to help us celebrate our life shifts and embrace our new adventures.
Like actors on the stage of the world, our different roles are just costumes that we inhabit and then shed. Each role we play gives us another perspective through which to understand ourselves and the nature of the universe. When we take a moment to see that each change can be an adventure, a celebration, and a chance to play a new part, we may even be able to recapture the joyful anticipation of our youth as we transition from one role to the next.
But we can become aware of them with a little work. Once we have a handle on the different roles we assume in specific situations, we can begin to examine whether or not those roles are appropriate to who we are. We begin to have the ability to choose what roles we want and which we do not.
Shedding old roles that no longer fit can be hard. It can feel like a part of us is dying or that we are becoming a whole new person -- depends on how we choose to view the process. Change is seldom easy, but shedding old worn out versions of ourselves that no longer fit with who we are is a crucial part of becoming more whole. By doing so, we learn to live from our core self rather than who we have been taught to be or expected to be.
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