Reflection

How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you will know what is inside you.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Something came to me when I came across this quote by Goethe...

When I started a search for my (first) mother I was aware that I was also trying to find myself. What I never anticipated was how fast the “finding myself” part would happen. It was exactly three weeks. The three week mark was the time it took for my birthparents’ non-identifying biography to arrive in the mail from the adoption agency.

Passionately contemplating ideas surrounding “adoption” and “self” may have, over the years, brought me some gain, though I can’t say exactly what. But asking for that letter and receiving it took me directly to Me. I’d empowered myself, taken ownership. The self I was looking for had been there all along, lost under the weight of secrets and shame and grief. Work is always ongoing, but that first action was the catalyst that took me back to center.