Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going

to explore whether you are or

aren't what you repeatedly do.

So it's not uncommon to hear people

say you are what you repeatedly do.

And there's a certain truth in this

and your habits create a particular

expression of you in the world.

The more you practice something, the more

you become that, whether it's something

like mindfulness, gratitude, relaxation.

And it's true with your work as well.

If you put a lot of time into something,

it's going to become a certain part of

your identity and at the very least a

skill set that you do have in the world.

So we could see the truth in

you are what you repeatedly do.

But I'd argue that it's not the whole

truth because I'm curious, what is your

essence when you're not doing something?

What was your essence before you

started doing things in the world?

Who are you in stillness?

Who are you when you're not busy?

Who are you when you're not

pressured to be someone?

As humans, we have to balance this.

We have the, the, our ego, you could say,

our sense of self that we're developing.

That's important, right?

This is your, your personality, how

you think, and behave in the world,

the skill sets that you develop.

All of that is necessary if

we're living in the world.

But you could also say that we're

spiritual beings or at the very

least we're, we're beings beyond

just thought and emotion, sensation.

That that's not the whole

truth of who we are.

And if we're solely identifying

with those aspects of us, the things

that we do in the world, well, we

can really lose connection with

the part of us that's much bigger.

And our worth is not contingent

upon those variables being

manipulated in a certain way.

Does that make sense?

You know, the variables of, okay,

my relationship is in place, my job

is in place, all the skillsets that

I want to develop, that's in place.

Like, okay, when all of that's

in place, then I can be happy.

Then I'm a good person.

It's like, okay.

That can really be some tricky

territory, because then the external

world always needs to be manipulated

in order for us to feel a sense of

goodness or a sense of worthiness.

But one of the things our

meditation practice does start

to connect us to is that there's

actually an innate wholeness here.

There's an innate perfection when

we drop beneath all of the thoughts

about who we are and where we're

going and what we should be doing.

And when we connect to that space

within us, there's a deep well of

nourishment that we can pull on and

it can aid us in all of the things

that we are doing in the world.

So this really is a practice

of blending those things.

On some level, yes, you

are what you repeatedly do.

On another level, no, you're

not what you repeatedly do.

Our practice is to understand both of

those truths and start to integrate them.

Thank you for your practice.

Let's settle in for today's meditation.