We have three selves constantly at work within us.

There is our current self that represents where we are at the moment. It reflects everything that has happened in our life. Our history and culture. The joys and the sorrows. The achievements and the failures. The decisions we have made that shaped us and influenced what will happen next. A moment in the present time.

Another self is our aspirational self. This is the self where we imagine how we could be better. Perhaps we want to be healthier, more loving, less angry, more vital, patient, and positive. Just name the virtue we aspire to. Perhaps it is an image of a future self we could be more proud of. A self that rose to the challenges of everyday life and chose the high road. It represents answering the call to a more fulfilling and meaningful life for ourselves, others, and our world.

Then there is the unwanted self. The self we don’t like. It calls us to seek immediate gratification despite the long-term consequences. It is shallow at its very core. It offers an immediate dopamine fix that feels good in the moment but later results in guilt and sometimes despair. Though often unconscious, it has an insidious cycle – rinse and repeat, over and over again, sometimes year after year.

This interplay of the three selves means that life is not easy. Most days may not be that dramatic in this ongoing drama, but it remains active often under the surface. What is required is courage and resolve. It requires deciding what is truly important and worthy of riding out the suffering that will occur, at least for a while. Not an easy task, but one that delivers a brighter future.

Fortunately, we are not alone in this struggle. We all have a transcendent divine depth at our core. It is the source of this aspirational self that beckons us to a grander type of being that, while not a finished product, nonetheless offers a powerful sense of meaning that nothing else can offer.