Strengthening self concept through personal mythology

First things first, Happy almost birthday to me!

I’m very grateful to have a birthday at the precipice of a seasonal new year. As winter is the season of rest, I get an extra month to sit in the stillness of winter before its time for action. Given my nature as a winter child, I have an extra coat of fur that allows me to be insulated from the cold. Warming my joints before the leap forward into spring without injury and false starts.

I’ve done my reflecting on the previous year of life and really don’t need much more of that here. Today I’d like to share a curious personal artifact of self concept that I’ve been playing through.

At the end of last year I learned about the idea of using human archetypes as a means of decision making and performance. Starting off by identifying the different archetypes within. The artist, technologist, entrepreneur, warrior, etcetera. It was a useful exercise in the moment but I didn’t find myself consciously carrying out the archetypes as much as I would have wanted. For example, in developing my idea of a warrior archetype, I found that I didn’t access that energy in every moment I could have.

I remembered a moment in second grade when I had joined a new school and the teacher asked all of us to write about our role models. I struggled because I didn’t feel like I had one. Not that there weren’t honorable people I knew of personally or historically but at an early age I didn’t incorporate other people in my consciousness and self concept. This would return to me later when trying to figure out a career path and being asked “who do you know that has a job/career that you’d model your own after?”.

Not being able to answer this made the room feel vastly empty. No art on the walls for inspiration. On one hand as a young man hoping I could find the answers outside of myself, this could have created insecurity. But in reality, as a naturally curious and disciplined young man this was the beginning of an aggressive creativity and pursuit of my own desires. I would begin to fill the walls of my interior with my own art and the floor plan with my own furnishing. Creating furniture from wood I cut or adorning my body with cloth I dyed. Building my own framework.

But I am still human. I make mistakes, have imperfections, occasionally feel the fear or not knowing. So while I skirt around the self help books and have been drawn towards fiction to learn from others, I have to create my own mythology. The musical artist Sun Ra talks about the importance of mythology in establishing a nation’s identity. It allows members to have a safe and structured way to look outside of themselves for inspiration when needed. Western mythology does center on super-humans which isn’t as appealing to me. As I am in a moment of peaking outside of my own interior for inspiration I started noticing a trail of evidence that led me to my own personal mythology.

So I followed the trail and came into the home of an animal.

Seeing the trail began through immense anger. Months prior to today, in a moment of rage an animal had appeared in my mind; though I thought little of it. But then I shared an unexpected first kiss with a beautiful woman a few months ago. The way we held each other and how she caressed my body brought the animal out in me. Cue “The Way” by Jill Scott.

After we parted ways something clicked in my mind. I began to meditate on the animal. Researching each species within the subfamily of the animal. Studying their hunting behaviors, lifestyle and seeing what aligns with my most authentic self expression. When I finished I settled on two different subspecies.

One strangely aligned with a version of myself that I’m already building international resonance for. Especially within the realms of aggression and resilience. Before research I had already shifted the way I exercise and train martial arts in a way that naturally matched this animals hunting technique. The other while still having positive qualities was who I am on a day to day. Both are fairly similar but I enjoy the idea of moving between the two from moment to moment.

An actor friend of mine was teaching me about all the different techniques for acting and shared the animal acting technique. Animal acting is a physical acting method where the actor embodies the characterization of a species animal to bypass intellectual, overthinking and find organic behavior by exploring primal instincts.

Boom! There it is. I love moments where I find something useful in an organic way then come to find out it’s already practiced.

As opposed to working from a human archetype, using my animal feels easier. It moves me away from socialized understandings of warriordom, manhood, brotherhood or other understandings of my self concept. During a year where I see myself moving at a particular pace, navigating relationships differently and pursuing entrepreneurship in a more self refined manner, having my animal take over has been a useful sensual tool.

In a world where humans continue to disappoint. Ancient mythologies are manipulated to biased certain groups. Creating out own individual mythologies is important for a healthy self concept. Ancient civilizations got it right when they centered these mythologies on nature as opposed to human-nature. As I develop mine I hope to join a jungle of other people with their animals. Being their authentic and most organic primal selves.

I won’t identify my own animal because some things are best kept private. But I’ll share a few things my animal is stimulated by.

Music

1.“Guapanese - Instrumental” by Mick Jenkins: Presence.

2.”Semi on em” by Gucci Mane & Chief Keef: My animal is on a hunt. Specifically the beat and the cadence of Chief Keef’s flow during the acapella.

3.”China Love” by Janet Jackson: The way we like to be caressed.

4.”Pain” by 2Pac & Stretch: The way we grieve.

5.Super Hyphie by Keak Da Sneak: If my animal were to throw a house party.

6.Kill 4 U by EatMyFlesh: Leisure time while people-watching(Animal) or alternatively within an incubation chamber(Human).

Consuming

Marinated beef short rib over mashed potatoes. Cashews & Dark Chocolate. Mangoes. Cucumber pickles.

Watching

Apocalypto (2006). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Super Fly (1972) Sun Ra: Do The Impossible (2025).

Misc.

Swimming. Climbing trees / tree hammocks. Extra thick red sweaters. Fresh white tank tops. Tiffany’s Black Airforce 1s.