Defining One's Self



Defining One's Self

Introduction

Inside everyone, there is a piece of our Spirit that is the perfect mother. It is the piece of our Spirit that knows how to hold us and protect us and love us. Sometimes we lose our connection with that piece of our Divine Self. Perhaps it was not modeled in your life, and your connection with that part of yourself is weak and inexperienced. Or because of the ups and downs of life, you lost the connection. The soul essence that is a nurturing Mother Holding You, can assist you in reawakening and reconnecting you with this aspect of your Divine Self. It is like the Global Positioning System (GPS) network for that part of your Spirit that has become temporarily lost.

When you have a spontaneous or overwhelming urge to find ways to nurture yourself, you pave the way for a healthier lifestyle. Your nurture-seeking impulses are often the result of filling an unmet need; or a reluctance to risk being rejected or having unmet needs. As a result you may believe that satisfaction comes from outside of yourself. By taking care of your body self in a loving and gentle way, however, you use your desires to help yourself. Bodywork or eating well nourishes your body and frees you from your immediate concerns. You then have more time to think about the joys of being who you truly are and connecting to your spirit. Give yourself a healthy treat today that connects you to your Divine self, and you will discover the true meaning of pleasure.

Discussion

The effort to define oneself involves not only an internal, psychological effort or struggle to understand who one is and wishes to become, but also a cultural, social, and sometimes political struggle to find one's place in the world, whether that place be in a particular group, a community, and/or the broader society and nation in which one lives or is otherwise situated. Many of the authors whose works we have read so far discuss their own struggles with identity-formation or portray other individuals' attempts to grapple with the different parts of their identity. Sometimes, our authors reveal, individuals are focused on forming an identity that enables them to “fit in” and to conform to dominant cultural values and social norms. The struggle to define oneself is often a painful one, but it is frequently an illuminating one as well. “Covering”, by Kenji Yoshino and “Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women: The Holy Veil”, by Geraldine Brooks are two works that present this struggle of defining oneself in similar ways. These works portray the effort of defining themselves through a process of challenging dominant cultural values and social norms rather than conforming to dominant cultural values and social norms.

Kenji Yoshino outlines a theory of minority group status in his 2006 and treatise/memoir Covering. According to Yoshino, society's demands on minority groups pass through stages over time. The first two stages have been explored by ...