We apply labels to the world around us to help us make sense of our experience.

We do this constantly with ourselves...

"I am a Christian."

"I am a Buddhist."

"I am a Republican."

"I am a Democrat."

"I am a lawyer."

"I am a painter."

It's worth asking ourselves if this habit of labeling is truly adding to our experience.

When we apply a label to ourselves, we become tempted to embody that label the way water embodies the shape of the glass it enters.

Is this a good thing? I cannot say for sure. What I will say is the kind of "all or nothing" behavior that comes with embodying the labels we choose for ourselves grants us a very limited view of the world.

What if we dedicated a little time each day completely doing away with labels? Try moving from one experience to the next as a label-ess being. Simply exist in each of the day's moment the way an unbiased narrator would.