{"id":964,"date":"2018-05-04T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/?p=964"},"modified":"2020-05-26T18:08:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T18:08:49","slug":"who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In today\u2019s spotlight I would like to discuss the notion of self. We all have a self-portrait of sorts\u2014that is, we all know ourselves by some common measures like our name, marital status, home, occupation, etc., and we also all know ourselves in interior ways such as our likes, dislikes, proclivities, attitudes, ambitions, secrets, and so forth. As such, our identity is who we have come to know ourselves as.<\/p>\n \"Choose\n

Constant Self?<\/h2>\n \n

Now imagine that you lost your senses all together\u2014would that change who you know yourself to be? Probably not. So what if you suddenly became an acquired savant like Jason Padget, who was on my radio show, and now the world was an illustration of fractal geometry. Would this still be you\u2014the you you know?<\/p>\n

What if a head blow turned you into a synesthete like Dr. Joel Salinas, who has also been on my Provocative Enlightenment <\/a>radio show, and like him, you actually felt the pain of others. Would taking on another\u2019s pain change you enough that your self-identity would become foreign to your former self?<\/p>\n

Now what if you lost all of your memories like Debra Sanders, who has also appeared on Provocative Enlightenment. Suddenly, you wake from a horrible accident and know not who you are, where you are, or anything else about yourself. Clearly now your self-identity is different. Perhaps it is limited to your body\u2014but that\u2019s not who you are, or is it?<\/p>\n

Aging teaches all of us that who we are is not our self-image as photographed when we\u2019re babies, or small children, or teenagers, or young adults. No\u2014this body thing is an ever-changing event and I would suggest that so is your self-representation or identity. As Heraclitus once put it, you can never step into the same stream twice.<\/p>\n\n

We are all dynamic beings in constant flux, just as all of nature. Our personalities are malleable, our attitudes frequently change, our likes and dislikes can vary from time to time, but most importantly, so can our view of our role in the world.<\/p>\n

The world changes one person at a time. A friend of mine recently reminded me of a quote by George Bernard Shaw, \u201cWe have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Think about that for a moment. How much happiness are you producing today and how could you increase it? Life isn\u2019t about your past\u2014it\u2019s always about the present. What can you do in this moment to increase the happiness in your world? As you produce happiness, you gain happiness. Isn\u2019t that what we all want and isn\u2019t that what we always want to be? For me, it seems the rest is only details.<\/p>\n \n \n

My thoughts anyway, what are yours?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n

Eldon Taylor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s spotlight I would like to discuss the notion of self. We all have a self-portrait of sorts\u2014that is, we all …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"yoast_head":"\nWho Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In today\u2019s spotlight I would like to discuss the notion of self. We all have a self-portrait of sorts\u2014that is, we all ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InnerTalk Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InnerTalkOfficial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"944\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"492\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"etaylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"etaylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"etaylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26947356766065ec5f6d0134353be892\"},\"headline\":\"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":487,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/\",\"name\":\"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg\",\"width\":944,\"height\":492,\"caption\":\"You really can choose to be happy.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/04\\\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"InnerTalk Blog\",\"description\":\"View the latest blog articles and special offers from InnerTalk.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"InnerTalk\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/InnerTalk-Logo-cropped-cmyk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/InnerTalk-Logo-cropped-cmyk.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":315,\"caption\":\"InnerTalk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/InnerTalkOfficial\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.innertalk.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26947356766065ec5f6d0134353be892\",\"name\":\"etaylor\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog","og_description":"In today\u2019s spotlight I would like to discuss the notion of self. We all have a self-portrait of sorts\u2014that is, we all ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/","og_site_name":"InnerTalk Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InnerTalkOfficial","article_published_time":"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":944,"height":492,"url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"etaylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"etaylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/"},"author":{"name":"etaylor","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/26947356766065ec5f6d0134353be892"},"headline":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be?","datePublished":"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/"},"wordCount":487,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/","url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/","name":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be? - InnerTalk Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-04T17:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-26T18:08:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Choose_to_be_happy-227739262.jpg","width":944,"height":492,"caption":"You really can choose to be happy."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/who-am-i-and-who-do-i-want-to-be\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who Am I, and Who Do I Want To Be?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/","name":"InnerTalk Blog","description":"View the latest blog articles and special offers from InnerTalk.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"InnerTalk","url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/InnerTalk-Logo-cropped-cmyk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/InnerTalk-Logo-cropped-cmyk.jpg","width":600,"height":315,"caption":"InnerTalk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InnerTalkOfficial"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/26947356766065ec5f6d0134353be892","name":"etaylor"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":983,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innertalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}