Who I Am

There's this thing that sometimes happens. It's difficult to articulate. At least, until just recently.

For a good bit of time, I could feel it, sense its occurrence but not express it. It is a wonderful feeling for a few minutes, maybe more. But I had no name for it.

The first time I tried to explain it to someone, trying to find common ground, hoping for an "Oh yeah, that same things happens to me," type moment, I stumbled and struggled briefly in my explanation. Then the phrase 'rings true' came to me. Not that I invented the saying 'rings true,' although how sweet would that be?

It's a phrase that tends to be used quite literally. Rings true. An auditory phenomenon. Like when one hears something said that rings true. It just sounds 'right.' But I think you can get that 'ring' in a feeling as well. And this is more what I'm talking about. It's not something I hear in my ears but something I feel in my cells. A sense of truth. When something feels so right that it speaks to your soul. Your spirit emits a perfectly pitched tone within your self. Like radar set to pick up your universal truth.

A moment in time, an unexpected turn of phrase, a casual touch and suddenly there's perfect peace within you for a moment. And no one else in the area may even notice. Like a whistle that only a dog can hear.

I'm getting better at recognizing these moments. And I try to grab hold. A song will penetrate my everyday-life-induced coma and my heart will swell, my eyes will water. Someone will throw out a casual thought and an absolute tone rings in my head. I just know it's right. It's truth.



I know. My heart knows. My toes know.



A fine musical gossamer thread hums within. It resonates. 'Genius,' the tone says. Or 'Home,' it rings. Or 'Truth,' it sings. It can be a moment in a movie, a line from a book, a place, the look on a face.

I think when something ring true in my life, it's a part of me saying "This is who I am!" Something right here is who I am. In large part or in small part, "This is who I am!" When I am remotely near salt water, a small part of me sings "this is who I am." When I stand on the very edge of this continent with my bare feet in the sand and the Pacific ocean air against my face, seagulls calling above as they ride the wind, a very large part of me cries "THIS is who I am!"

When a chocolate truffle melts on my tongue, I know "This is who I am."
When my toddling grandson runs across the room toward me with his arms stretched wide, "This is who I am!"
When my eighteen year old daughter calls me from the middle of her day and wants to know what I think of this or that, I'm grateful that "This is who I am."
When someone says "Barbie, write a book!" I nod knowlingly and breathe deep, "Yes, this is who I am."


When something rings true for me, I experience a long moment of "all is right with my world." In a Barbie's Absolute Life Truth kind of way.

I love when that happens.