Who are you? How would you answer the question?

When someone says ‘Who are you?’ what do you say?

Do you give your name and address?

Do you say something clever like ‘I’m a collection of molecules worth around a pound.’

Or something spiritual like ‘I am a human soul’.

Or something a bit earthier like ‘I’m a husband, a father, an NHS safeguarding officer and I support the mighty Leeds United.’

There’s nothing wrong with any of our answers, they all do a job – it’s just that they are not present.

They are all using memory concepts, which like armour, give us definition and perhaps protect us.

But can also prove heavy and airless.

When someone asks me who I am, in the here and now, I’m caught out – for no answer comes.

There’s nothing to say.

Just silence… a wordless sense of existence, unbound by the sort of concepts already named.

Although my mind ferrets around for a concept, to give myself shape or meaning, my body, staying present, won’t allow.

There is just my existence, wordless and perfect, in this moment.

This can be a liberating practice when your armour is weighing heavy or claiming too much.

Go happily wordless.