Blueprint >> Nominalized Identity

Disclaimer: This document is in raw form as I process and distill 4 years-worth of my personal development notes. Expect some typos and cryptic language for now. I will be updating frequently and polishing up.

Prescription: Don't be attached to your "Who".
Related Concepts: Identity, Self-Image, Identity-Level Change, Enlightenment

What is Nominalized Identity?

...

Why is it Important?

Your self-image determines how you behave, how you feel, and what you can accomplish in life. A limited self-image will block your growth. Don't impose artificial limits on yourself.

Nominalized Identity Videos

[coming soon...]

Nominalized Identity: Key Points

Who you think you are is called your self-image, which is just a collection of beliefs and thoughts that you've built up over time. This self-image can be completely changed. Virtually all your behaviors and thought-patterns can be completely changed. So if there is anything you don't like about your behavior, you can change it. Do you even realize how cool and powerful this is?

Resist the urge to label yourself, especially anything limiting or negative. Don't identify with labels. Your identity is not a static, precious thing that you need to cling to. Your identity is a shifting, uncategorizable, infinite thing that is always playing itself out until it's dead. Your mind is the collection of all your neurons, which change every second. On the base, physical level, who you are today is not who you were yesterday and no who you were 10 years ago.

You are not a student. You are not a parent. You are not shy. You are not fat. You are not a writer. You are not popular. It's a gross oversimplification to call yourself any of these things. Strictly speaking, you might have behaved in these ways, but that is all changeable. Don't turn your past behaviors into a definition of who you.

It's not about who you are, it's about who you CHOOSE to be. Forget about how you have behaved in the past. How do you want to behave going forward? What would your ideal self look like? What kind of qualities would you love to have? We're talking about your self-image, really, which is largely illusory and can be completely changed with time.

You are a verb, not a noun. Leave room for yourself to grow, and expand, and behave in new ways in the future. Whatever you don't like about yourself, remember that it only exists in the past. It does not exist in the present or the future. If you stop behaving in the ways you don't like, you immediately stop being the person you didn't like to be.

Technically, your identity is just a concept. It's made up. Whether you see yourself in an empowering, positive way, or a disempowering, negative way, you're still making it up. You are identifying with things that aren't the real you. You don't know the real you behind it all. That is the truth. You are not your thoughts, or your beliefs, or your feelings. You are the observer. You are pure awareness. The rest of who you think you are is a story that you've created over time. At the very least, make sure this story is empowering. But even then, don't be attached to it. 2

References

1. Mind Control, Wyatt Woodsmall
2. The Book of Not Knowing, Peter Ralston
3. Mind Power, John Kehoe