A Myth Of A Nickname

My father is 81 years old.  His Birthday is today. He lives in Moscow and I don’t get to hug him in person today. In addition to our Skype conversation, I sent him an e-mail greeting, and as I signed it, I automatically put my nickname as he used to call me when I was a kid, as my signature. And then I realized, what it is all about.

The nick name my father had for me since I was a toddler, was Chunka, which was a name of a popular Russian animated character a little funny piggy, who was very curious, had a great upbeat attitude, liked to help others and learn interesting lessons along the way. I suppose this described me in my father’s eyes. Family tradition holds that I WAS this little upbeat character who is always friendly, creative, and fast to help. Come to think of it, it still stands today. I still live the myth my father created for me. Although the difference is that now I can consciously make a choice to support or not the myth of being the Chunka. Most people I know have no idea what story they are creating by living their life.

The song that Chunka sang in the story went like this: ” I walk my walk, and on the way, I meet new friends, and learn great things.”

Then Chunka came by a puppy, who was painting a fence and got paint on his coat, and his father, a big dog, accused the puppy of being as dirty as a pig. Chunka was shocked. He was a pig, and he wasn’t dirty. In fact the story started with the scene where he took a bath before he ate… He went further, and saw a kitten, who was playing with his food, and got it all over himself, and whose mother, a big cat, accused the little kitten of being a dirty pig! That was too much for Chunka!

He ran home crying. He said to his mother,

I don’t want to be who I am anymore!

She replied, “Who will you be then?”

Chunka saw a little bird sitting on a branch of tree above and said: “I’ll be a bird!”

“But you can’t fly!”

Chunka waved his hoofs in the air and flopped onto the ground. He could not fly.

HE COULD NOT BE A BIRD. He was a pig.

“What should I do?” he said. And the little bird said:

“Remain who you are.” 

“It is not important who you are, but rather HOW YOU ARE.”

Is how we are in our experience more important than who we are?

What we do being like that is important because our life experiences and self-perceptions are compiled from the behaviors we exhibit, our attitude, our self-awareness, and the image we hold in relation to the idea of who we are.

I don’t know you. The only way I know you is by the things that you DO, how you behave, how you exhibit to me who you hold yourself to be. This will of course manifest according to the story you know of yourself, you tell yourself of who you are.  You write this story every day, through everything you do, say, create. You live into this story every day.

Now think about it. Is this really who you are?  Is this how you want to be?

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Tags: how you are, Morrin Bass, who you are, your story