Reprogramming Ourselves – WHO AM I?
Last night I had the pleasure to be on a conference call with a team of insanely bright people who were crafting a course for college students to help them find out who they really are. The course is based on the teachings of professor Paul Minifee at SDSU, who currently teaches a course for 19-20 year olds to help them find self. During the conversation it became clear to me that one of the core issues that I’ve been facing over the past 53 years of my life is the amount of programming that keeps us from being “ourselves” and how much “reprogramming” we need to do in order to find our core.
There have been so many people that I’ve had conversations with about who am “I”? Who is it that sees the world? Is it our brain, our intelligence, our soul or is it just a knowing that guides us towards the life we were meant to live? I am living through that reprogramming as we speak, looking at my core structure, my values, my belief system, my self-talk, my reason for being and so much more. I know that I’m on this planet to be a good father, a good husband, a dutiful son and history has told me that I’m a good provider. One of the strongest reprogramming opportunities for me is to understand how we manifest our future, how our self talk and how our own story is what needs to change.
I tell our kids every day that we make up the story in our heads, so why not make the stories great? That is very easy to say and I’m realizing that my own story needs to change. I have a good friend who I’ve gotten to know very well over the past year. I’ve seen him through some rough patches and he’s done the same for me. In a recent conversation he was asking me to be more present, present in everything that I’m doing, including monitoring what I actually say. So much of what I say is on auto pilot, it’s my story and I keep repeating it over and over again. This story is part of what keeps me from living my true purpose.
Last night’s call made be go back to the thought of when it all started, when the programming really started. I believe it started way back in our lives when we are little. We’re given so many lessons at all ages. The hardest time for me was being a teenager. Maybe that is why it’s been so fulfilling to help our two teens navigate these years. When we’re at that age, as teenagers, we are constantly reminded by people going through the same challenges, how they sees us. In turn, this is what forms much of our own self-image. I’m seeing that this is not who I really am, I’m not a collection of the stories I was taught as a teenager or at any other stage of my life. My wife often tells me that I was raised to be extremely independent and that I function in the world that way, not needing anyone. That is the furthest thing from who I want to be. I want to be deeply connected to others and help them on their journey, to be of service.
This journey to my core has been one that I didn’t plan on taking and I’m realizing that in order to be the person I was meant to be that reprogramming myself is what this journey is about. It’s time to live in the present every day, to be the best person I am in the moment, not the person I was programmed to be. It’s time to stop with the regurgitated stories and to be more aware of what’s going on in this moment, with the people I’m connected to in the moment, to be of service to them. I also know that the manifestation of who I am is already inside me, I am dusting off the lessons that were not true and allow my true core to emerge. I’m here to help people, young and old, go on their journey of self exploration, connect them with others that align with their being and use business as a vehicle to change the world! Who wants to join me?
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 