The self: A different sense of who you are

Do you feeling peppier in the spring? 
Or, if you have allergies, are you feeling down because of all the sneezing?

Conversely, do you notice how affected you may be by the darkness of winter? 
How the cold may make you less eager to go out and exercise?

Why am I talking about the effects of the seasons and the weather on how you feel?  I want to make the point that what we call the "self" is not something that is fixed, permanent, rock-solid.  Instead, it is the result of how we "dance" with our environment: Things around us are a certain way, and we have a way of reacting to them… Then things around us are another way, and we react to them in another way.

This is interesting in terms of how we conceive of the “self” philosophically or spiritually.  But it is also highly practical.  If you think of the “self” as something that is solid as a rock, then you’ll feel it is very difficult -- or even impossible -- to change.  On the other hand, if you think of the “self” as a series of ways in which we "dance" with our environment as it changes, then you can't see the “self” as something that is much more fluid and changeable.

For one thing, this suggests that one way of changing who you are is to make some changes to your environment.  For instance, if you are permanently tired and grouchy, it may be that changing your work life might help you be a happier person.

There is also another angle to this.  If you think of the "self" as the way you react to certain circumstances, you may start to become curious about what might happen if you started making some changes to the way you react.