The Real You

The nature of our personal existence in this telestial world is that there are two parts to each of us. The temporal part that is our body and the spiritual part which is our spirit. Part of the test of mortality is to determine which one of those "selves" we are going to consider our real self. The temporal part of us is influenced by the circumstances, ideas, and situations around us. The spiritual part of us is influenced by the Spirit and the teachings of the Savior communicated to us through scripture, prophets, and teachers.

Along the path of life each of us begins to define ourselves in certain ways. In doing this we think things like "I am a procrastinator," "I am a caring person," "I am a person who eats too much," "I am a perfect housekeeper,"  "I am a sickly," "I am sensitive," and many other things. But look at those things. Most of them have to do with the temporal self. But the temporal self is by nature temporary and therefore can't be the real self. The real self is the lasting, eternal, spiritual self and to define ourselves with anything but our spiritual self is a mistake.

In Buddhist teachings the temporal self is considered the constructed sense of self and it can undermine our happiness. It is self-destructive and gets in the way of us finding our highest potential.

So when we start to think, "I am . . ." stop and ask yourself is that true? Is that the real, lasting, spiritual me or is it the temporal, temporary me? That's the only way to discover who we really are.