Symbols

        "When one's head is filled with ideas and the mind is scattered it is easy to be influenced by symbols. The same thing happens when an individual is particularly tired. Your mind seems to float, you have a feeling of being distracted and then some ad or symbol comes before you and your thought process is changed or focussed on the ad. Think how many times a day or evening you are influenced by symbols. If you are watching tv, then you are, at times, bombarded with symbols. Some of them are evident and some are more subtle.

        Life in the format it is now is based on an economy that uses symbols to stimulate the urge to buy. We are used to that. And then there are self evident symbols of religion or organizations that are well known. In fact, we take symbols for granted. Have you ever thought about the symbols that surround you on a daily basis? What is your living space? What do the things you have say about you? Are they of sentimental value or status or desire? We place around us those things that establish, in a sense, who we are. We choose things of beauty that give us pleasure. Some people like personal photographs or pictures, others do not. We each have our own choice of preferences.

        Then there is the most important symbol. That is you. What do you symbolize? What is the total picture that you represent or the different aspects you show? When you put together the symbols that represent you that are most important, is it a true picture? Perhaps your symbols are the different roles you play in life. Perhaps the symbols are the personal characteristics that you have, both those that are played out in life and those which are well within the self. Whatever groups of symbols or categories of symbols you come up with, do they blend or harmonize together or are they separate, each a category in itself. Whatever the grouping, it is an interesting experiment in self discovery to find the symbols that go to make up you. Not only that, but it is interesting to think about how these symbols are incorporated into a total symbol that is most shown to the world.

        Also, to carry this exercise a little further - what symbol do you like most and what symbol to you like the least? What is the reason? It is helpful to sometimes be aware of how many symbols in a day reach your eyes and mind. Check and see if these symbols have had a lasting influence on your daily life or if they are just a passing view.

        Remember that no one's symbol is like another. Though there is a common thread, each is unique. See how the symbol of you has changed in the last few years and how you'd like it to change and what you'd like it to become. Then let your individual light make your symbol shine."