Who am I?

Clive should have received a hefty commission from the bookshop on day two of the Emotional Intelligence course.  He mentioned Tara Bennett-Goleman’s book Emotional Alchemy several times.  In the lunch break most of the class brought the book from the small store behind the Tea Rooms.  This store had an amazing collection of Psychology and Buddhism books, making my credit card quiver in my bag.

“Who am I if I am not my usual pattern of assumptions and self-definitions?”

- Tara Bennett-Goleman

This is such a powerful question.  When we peel back the layers, what is left?  And are we brave enough to see and try?  Listening to a podcast by Jack Kornfield the other day he cited a great quote by James Baldwin:

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to the hate and ignorance so stubbornly is because they sense when that is gone they will be forced to deal with their own pain.”