People are attached to things all over the world and living in New York City, where nature isn’t easily found and shopping is- it can be easy to let your thoughts get attached to labels. The first thing that comes to my mind is exclusive designer labels, such as, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, etc. all the top designers.
Labeling things by what you have or don’t have does not doesn’t define who you are. People get so absorbed in their thoughts, they can become totally unaware of what really is (other people and their surroundings). The ego resists the present moment- it gives more attention to the past and the future. The ego overlooks the now.
“Words, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into a sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you. You easily lose yourself in them, become hypnotized into implicitly believing that when you have attached a word to something you know what it is. The fact is: You don’t know what it is. You have only covered up the mystery with a label. Everything, a bird, a tree, even a simple stone, and certainly a human being, is ultimately unknowable. This is because it ha unfathomable depth. All we can perceive experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip of an iceberg.
Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also with the source of all life out of which it came.”
98% of our thoughts are useless and repetitive. Your ego is a false sense of self identification of form and has an endless desire for more. me and my story/ your personal history which you identify with your past. Most people identify with their story- their failures, successful what has happened. In your essence, that is not who you are- it is no more then a bundle of thoughts, that you believe who you are.
The ego can put you into a box and create limitations based on thoughts and perceptions. For example, going into your story and then labeling it as who you are (e.g.,”I am poor,” “I am overweight”, “I am beautiful”, “I am smart,” etc.).
Eckhart Tolle made a statement last night on the Webcast, “When you ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ You’re not supposed to answer the question, you’re supposed to leave it blank.
I encourage you to make friends with the present moment and be comfortable with who you are as you are- with nothing else defining you.