There’s this feeling I get sometimes that I have come to think of as the most wonderful clue.

A clue to who I really am.

Here’s what it is, and you may have experienced it before, but you might not have paid too much attention to it or recognized it for what it was. I know I haven’t always.

You begin to do something that you haven’t done in a long time or something you have never done before, and you suddenly find yourself taking a

really deep breath,  

possibly a deeper breath than you have had in a very long time. You didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened on its own. Maybe it felt like a refreshing sigh, or you are now breathing easier than you were before. Perhaps, you have even had a sudden shock of thinking to yourself, “This makes me VERY happy.”

We need to pay attention to this when it happens.
This is a gift, a huge clue about who we really are.

Now that I’ve started paying closer attention to this clue, I have to laugh when I notice it, grateful for the confirmation that this thing is, indeed, something that fills me up and makes me me and for the reminder to include this more in my life.

Even if it appears to be very, very simple or trivial.

Among other times, I get this clue when I watch the birds flying back and forth to the feeders in my yard, when I’m spreading watercolors around on a piece of paper, when I’m doing this Classical Stretch program I’ve done on and off for years, and when I’m squirting whip cream onto strawberry shortcake to have for a decadent breakfast – ooh, that makes me so happy! Like I said, this clue doesn’t have to be all deep and meaningful and point to my life’s purpose – sometimes simply to something that creates contentment and joy within me.

I’m keeping a running list now; it has me feeling very curious to continue discovering things that make me breath easier, things that are pointing me in the direction of who I am, things that are, independently of me, revealing my TRUE self! These are the things that make me who I am as an individual in this world. Your things will not be the same as mine, but I oh so encourage you to start noticing when this lovely clue happens to you.

Write them down, do them often.

We don’t DECIDE who we are.
We DISCOVER who we are.

After all, we aren’t the One Who places these desires in our hearts. Let’s get to know ourselves better and better all the time and follow these clues to our true selves and to true contentment in our lives. Happy clue hunting!