I want to talk about our identity. How we dress, who we spend our time with, how much money we make, what club, community, religion–or even sect of a religion– we belong to, holds such an important value in our society, when in truth, it separates us from who we really are or who we can be.

My friend just sent me a quote from the great sage known as the Klausenberger Rebbe, “There’s one thing I miss about the Holocaust. When we went on the death march, we were all clean shaven and our hair was shaved off too. We marched side by side, no one knew if the person next to them was a Chosid or a Litvak (sects of Judaism). No one knew I was a Rebbe. We all just held our arms around each other, tried to keep warm, and tried to keep our fellow Jews warm. That’s what I miss”.

This quote brought tears to my eyes. It’s so true, yet so very sad that we need tragedy in order to seek the similarities and not the differences.

I’m rather fortunate to be a member of the 12-step community, a fellowship that has people from all walks of life and levels of success, and many, many different communities, sects, religions, etc. Yet most of my life, I have spent looking for the differences, not the similarities.

How do you guide yourself out of this trap? How do you see the value that exists in every individual? How do you prevent yourself from seeing the differences, instead of the similarities?

This week, let’s remember all of us go to the bathroom in the same way, and we all need food and water to exist. When we wake up, before we are clothed and put on our respective masks, we are all the same. Let’s use these values to find the similarities– not the differences.

Accountability, Community, Unconditional Love

Asher

I want to remind all of you that you can hear more on my podcast, Showing Up. We have lots of amazing shows with interesting guests on a variety of personal development topics. It would be great if you could also rate 5 stars, review and subscribe to the show. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/showing-up-with-asher-gottesman/id1489856285y

Posted in Thought of the Week