I'd like to ask you to relax for a moment about the clothes that you are wearing. Think about how your clothes say something about who you are: your gender, your age, your economic status, maybe even how you feel about yourself. As you think about that, imagine yourself in quite different clothes. Note that your real self would not change. Even if you were wearing Eskimo clothes or Arabian clothes, you would still be who you are, so your real self is not your clothes. Therefore, you are not your clothes."

Think about the place where you live. Think about everything you own. Those things say a lot about you, but are you your possessions? Would you change even if a fire or a flood took everything that you have away? Think about that and say to yourself, "I am not my possessions."

Now think abo…