I love this; “Wherever You Go There You Are.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, wrote a book by the same name where he describes that in order for us to get to know who we really are, we need to pause in our experiences long enough to actually feel the present moment. Let’s think about that for a moment. When you read the words; Wherever. You. Go. There. You. Are., did it resonate with you, or did you skim over it without gleaning any real sense of connection?

What I find interesting is that despite the fact that we try so hard to be happy, we’re no further ahead of where we want to be and how we want to feel. We may not even know how to get there.

We tend to work toward creating the life we think we should be living. If, however we truly tapped into ourselves, our inner wisdom and instinct, we’d probably lead very different lives.

Why? Because we spend most of our waking hours wanting to be something or someone else. So, when I say; “Wherever you go there you are,” I mean it literally. I would say that we spend a great deal of time trying to get away from being with ourselves.

Imagine however if the opposite were true. Where we actually liked our own company. We would probably be happier, more fulfilled, loving, kinder, more giving human beings. Our relationships would be better. We’d like what we’re doing. We’d feel more fulfilled and passionate about our lives. We’d have more adventures. More fun. More laughs. We wouldn’t feel that we HAD to wait for people to join us if we really wanted to do something. We’d do it anyways.

Imagine if we took the time to really get to know ourselves. Perhaps you’ve already discovered the magic of YOU. Perhaps this image I’m painting is you personified. Fabulous. Please tell us. Teach us. We will lead by your example. Oh, but wait, isn’t that where we start to get further away from ourselves? You see what I mean.

The first thing that we tend to do when we’re lost is to look elsewhere. At someone else’s life. Here’s the thing – you must start with YOU. You need to take the time, yes time (you’re worth it) to get to know who you are. It’s a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.

Here’s one way to start:

Take yourself out on a date. After the date, ask yourself, will there be a second? Were you fun, engaging, interesting to yourself? I’m being serious. Try it. Hey, if you’re someone who would never go out for a meal on their own … you may actually like it, knowing that you’ll be there.

Jon Kabat-Zinn discovered that through meditation we could get closer to better understanding ourselves. I know what you might be thinking, “I was following you right up until this point, and then you had to throw in the whole meditation thing.”

Here’s the thing … meditation got way too complicated, when, in actual fact it’s simply about being yourself. And knowing something about who that is. It’s about coming to realize that you are on a path whether you like it or not. Namely the path that is your life. Meditation may help us to see that this path has direction – everything that we do now influences what happens next. Take a look around from time to time to see the path that you’re on and the direction you’re taking.

It’s incredibly freeing knowing that nothing more is required of us than to just be fully present; in the here and now. For some reason we are horrible at doing that. We have so many expectations of ourselves. And yet, we don’t even know who we really are. And worse, we could be setting expectations that we may not even want for ourselves.

“Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.” 
–Eckhart Tolle

Here’s what I’d like you to consider. Be in the moment. It means having the courage to know you will never be someone other than who you are. If you’re not satisfied being you, then your first call to action is to get to know yourself better.

Give a shout out to yourself.

Remember; Wherever You Go There You Are. And that’s GREAT!