Swiftly adding up my daily coffee, lunch, 'quickly-pop into the second-hand bookshop' tally one afternoon earlier this week, it occurred to me that such a total might represent what it cost to be me that day. It is quite unlikely that anyone else spent the exact amount of money on exactly the same purchases. How we spend our money reflects something about ourselves, and speaks of our character, personality, priorities, and identity. It later dawned on me that we make countless decisions each and every day that 'cost' us something. With any choice comes a loss, though we might not explicitly conceive of it in these terms.
"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." Epictetus
What have the decisions you have made today cost you? What did they entail today? What might they entail tomorrow, and looking ahead? Being 'ourself' whomsoever that might be, entails a cost. We are constantly shaping ourselves, and making decisions perhaps without even knowing we are doing it - all of our actions and omissions have an impression that lasts beyond the moment in which it occurs. Unless we attend to this nuanced process, the price we pay for the identity whose evolution we invest in might cost us more than we envisage...
"Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am."
Parker J. Palmer
"Our achievements of today are but the sum total of our thoughts of yesterday. You are today where the thoughts of yesterday have brought you and you will be tomorrow where the thoughts of today take you."
Blaise Pascal
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