In my last meditation class our teacher talked about how he once was asked by a spiritual leader if he wanted to change his name. It seems that this is not uncommon for yogis that have been teaching yoga for many years. It got me thinking about how much value we put into our names. There is so much history, and so many associations and it's such a big part of our self perception. But when we think of it, it is actually just a word.
My teacher decided not to change his name. Simply because he liked his own. It got me thinking about my name. I used to be terrified that someone might find out that I was writing about my thoughts to some "random people" on the internet. I thought the safest thing would be to go with an alias, and Halina was my favorite girl name. It wasn't the best decision I made. Now when I feel have some real friends here and when someone calls me Halina through my comments, I feel a little like I'm lying. So this is why I decided to reveal my true name.
My name is Anna. Apart from that, nothing else has changed.
