I went on a 4-month Buddhist retreat, and one week covered “Self-images”. We received homework that week to journal our self-images—all of them. Every time I felt some sense of self, like “The self that prides itself on being clean” or “The self that’s playful and giggly”, I’d write it down in my journal. I ended up filling 20 pages over a month period, and learning so much about the many selves my mind/body were trying to convey to the world. I also discovered how often two self-images would compete with each other. Observing the self-images helped them to be less strongly attached.
It sounds like you discovered that yourself this week. You might find such an exercise useful for discovering more of that.
I went on a 4-month Buddhist retreat, and one week covered “Self-images”. We received homework that week to journal our self-images—all of them. Every time I felt some sense of self, like “The self that prides itself on being clean” or “The self that’s playful and giggly”, I’d write it down in my journal. I ended up filling 20 pages over a month period, and learning so much about the many selves my mind/body were trying to convey to the world. I also discovered how often two self-images would compete with each other. Observing the self-images helped them to be less strongly attached.
It sounds like you discovered that yourself this week. You might find such an exercise useful for discovering more of that.