Identity sculpting

Many of us use life experiences to actively sculpt our identity. We use both good and bad life experiences to actively construct "who we are". Leading scholars in this area, Eviatar Zerubavel and Christena Nippert-Eng, believe that identity construction is an active as well as a creative process.

As a result, we sometimes think of "life journey" as an act of searching, finding, discovering a bit more about ourselves. At certain times, we cannot help but wonder whether we will ever find a place where we belong.

For example, this news article from NPR tells a story about a struggle of native American kids who spent time in foster homes removed from their Indian heritage.

Here is a quote from the story that may be worth reflecting:

"... the only difference between running away and running home is whether or not you're running in the direction you belong."

Real human being

When Steve Jobs died a few weeks ago, the world weeps for his passing. Steve Jobs has been praised for being a great inventor, a great intellect who has keen eyes on design, and a great visionary who transformed computer, music, animated movie, and mobile phone industries. But when we stop long enough to think about Steve Jobs as real human being, we may come to a different conclusion.

A person's life is full of bright spots and some dark chapters. Steve Jobs's dark sides are his temper, his bullies for perfection, his lack of respect for several others.

Steve Jobs's life is a reminder that everyone of us is a real human being.

Water

We see and hear soothing water when we sit by the beach

We see and hear powerful water when we sit near a waterfall

We see and hear angry water when we imagine a tsunami

We see and hear distressed water when we imagine a flood

Future with no future experience

So many of our experiences deal with outcomes and expectation of a bright future. For example, we talk about education in a sense of its outcomes (skills, jobs, a better life). Another example is child raising.

But what to do when there is no future waiting at the end of these experiences. Emily Rapp recently wrote in the New York Times sharing her experience raising her son who has Tay-Sachs disease. Her son is 18 months old and very unlikely to live beyond his 3rd birthday. Here is the link to the full article.

She writes in a brave voice. She tells us that, at the end of the day, the best that you can do is living in the moment. In her case, loving her son in today moment and letting him go when the time comes. That is all you can do.

Street walking

Pause and observe street walking styles ... what do they tell us?


Walking ... Aiming for a destination

Walking ... Enjoying the journey

Walking ... Rocking left and Rocking right

Walking ... Sailing and following the wind

Walking ... Searching, Looking, Finding

Power of Imagination

Why is it important to imagine?

Only if ..... we can imagine what it is like to earn $1 a day and still need to feed the family.

Only if ..... we can imagine what it is like to have no access to healthcare

Only if ..... we can imagine what it is like to want to go to school but there is no school to go to

Only if ..... we can imagine what it is like to be the powerless