What if you weren’t you? And, then, you approached yourself (the actual “right now” you) and begin telling your life story? This person speaking to you, this “you” that you treat like any other person, begins at the beginning. You hear about growing up in your house. You hang on the memories of those days when you were just figuring it out, learning what it means to be alive. As the years are inspected and set aside, your sense of this person, this “you”, takes shape. You see the joys. You see the disappointments. The formative experiences are presented to you as if for the first time. The patterns of your life emerge from the deep. As “you” ascend into modern day, the life that you’ve lived so far presents itself with a clear frame and all the trimmings.
Now you’re listening to what you’re experiencing today. You hear about your opinions and how they are formed. You listen closely as you describe to yourself all the ways things aren’t as you thought they’d be. Some of this is accepted as a gift. Much of it is resisted. You can see the ambivalence on your face. When all the telling has been told “you” wind down with a, “And that’s pretty much how I got to who I am now. We’ll see what the future has up it’s sleeve.”
Then “you” throw one more thought on the pile of your life-to-date, a question.
“So, what do you think?”
So, what do you think?
If you were someone else, how would you answer that question?
Would you celebrate those joys? Would you suggest you pine over the failures?
Would you be proud of how far you’ve come? Would you focus on how far you have to go?
Would you give yourself advice?
If so, what?
Would you be accepting of yourself or would you try to change you?
Would the things that want to keep “you” up late nights be part of the conversation?
Would you give yourself grace? Would you extend love?
Would you see through the self-deception? (We all deceive ourselves on some level.)
Would you say the hard things that “you” needs to hear?
So, what do you think?
What if you weren’t you and you had to speak into your life?
What might you say?
Would you have the ears to listen?
