All our layers of stress come from one seed belief and that belief is about our identity.

A tree has many layers of branches and leaves and while they grow over time they all come from the same seed. Similarly, all our layers of stress creating beliefs and perceptions come from one seed belief, one core belief, one wrong belief. Fix that belief and it fixes everything. And that belief is about our self. It is the belief in who we think (believe) we are i.e. our identity. We learn to identify with many things during the course of our life but we are mostly not aware that we do. It starts with labels like gender, nationality, race, profession, looks, status, religion etc.  We know that we identify with any one of these the moment they are threatened or insulted, or there is the possibility of loss, and we feel either tension or anger, or some sadness as a result.

Who am I?
Name – a label used to refer to me; it’s not I
Profession – I am a Doctor, Businessman – it’s my profession; it’s not I
Relation – I am a Parent – it’s my relationship, it’s not I
Nationality – I am an Indian – I live in India; it’s not I.
Religion – I am a Hindu – it’s my religion, a way of living that I practice; it’s not I
Body – it’s my hand, my eyes, my face, my body; it’s not I

Everything that was mine, I thought it to be I – we mixed the my with the I. My body, my name, my relationships, my country, my caste, my profession…. Who is the I to whom all these belong? Remove all these labels and let us start feeling the real I, the soul or the spiritual being.