I am not what I am

" We are not who we think we are - we are not what we do, we are not our age, we are not our gender or sexual preference. We are not where we live or where we were born or what religion we were born into or went on to practice. We are not our skin color. We are not our bodies. We are not our thoughts. We are something that is unnamable, indescribable, vital, mysterious and elementally free. We have known this truth since we first looked into a mirror when we were children and, surprised by our reflection, thought, But this is not who I am. All of our livres, we have looked into mirrors, startled by our reflections. But this is not who I am, we think in secret as we brush on mascara or shave our chins. And we are right. Yet we begin to believe we are who we have invented ourselves to be (...). "

- Nina Wise, A big, new, free, happy, unusual life