Can you choose who you want to be?
Many popular spiritual books and writings today advocate using the 'I am' statement. I loved the "Conversations with God" trilogy of books and found them deeply transcending. However Neale (the author) keeps repeating the statement 'choose who you now want to be' and it seems to have become a trend in many spiritual circles. But does it work?...

It was the one key thing that I had difficulty accepting when I read the books. However for a while, I did apply myself to that concept. Indeed initially it even seemed to work. I had an idea of what my true self really was and applied intention through meditations and my general way of being to seek to radiate that beingness through everything I did.

The 'I am' statement was very much in my consciousness. However, I didn't notice that over time I was building internal efforting trying to be a certain way in all of my daily interactions - I didn't notice the contradiction of feelings that were arising inside as a result of the efforting.

My spiritual awakening had been very rapid, brought on by a life threatening car crash in which I thought I would certainly die. In the smashed wreckage, I was caused to completely surrender and entered a state of profound bliss which stayed with me for many months.

When I started to apply the 'I am' teachings, they felt good at first because it seemed like I was being a positive influence on my environment. However trying to uplift others became a doctrine (although I wouldn't have called it this at the time) until finally I noticed I had lost the sense of liberation and absolute "okayness" following the crash. The 'life energy' was being strangled from me by my own internal efforting.

As soon as I realised this, I just completely let go once more and didn't try to 'be' anything. It was then that I really found my way forward in society's matrix of conditioning. That is to be awesomely okay with whatever is arising within us and trust that it has a deeper purpose.

So if you feel angry, BE ANGRY, if you feel upset, 'BE UPSET', if you feel mean 'BE MEAN'. However seek to be in the place of the observer of yourself in it and don't judge yourself for it - after all you chose exactly these circumstances to self realise.

If you don't judge yourself and stay as the observer, then all the negativity is released and then you transcend internal identity all together - there is no 'I am' inside at all.

When you do this, you become the all of it - beyond definition. In other words you become the absolute - the God that you already are.

Then 'right action' flows spontaneously in the moment in response to the natural energetic flow of the universe and your destined part in this - it is what we at Openhand call the 'true self'.

Rather than using the 'I am' statement, I found that if I ever lost my way, I would apply a process which I came to know as 'Openhand Way'. That is to always come from a place of 'open mind' and 'open heart'. In doing this, you receive the energy of the universe in truth ('receiving hand’).

In other words you see through the distortions of how the mind wants reality to be and instead connect with what is truly happening. Then it becomes clear what is your destined part to play in that moment and we can give ourselves to our highest truth (giving hand).

Then we find our destined state of beingness arises naturally without having to hold any idea about it at all. With this comes true liberation, consciousness expands and we become a naturally positive influence on our environment without having to 'do' anything.

So in my experience, when you create 'I am', all you really end up creating is 'I am not'!

If you would like to know more about 'Openhand Way' and how to apply it......click here. It is taught on our course 'Way of the Heart'. If you would like to come on the course, check our events section for when the next one is happening.