Who am I beneath the bumper sticker? That’s the question we start asking ourselves when we reach the subtraction phase of life.

Subtraction begins when addition ends. That means that we finally figure out that we don’t need to add anything else to discover who we are beneath our labels.

Addition is us looking to add that one more thing that’s going to make us complete. Subtraction is discovering the completed original beneath the painting we’ve been adding to our entire lives.

Addition is staying stuck on the surface. Subtraction takes us deep into our cavern of creativity. That’s when we discover who we are beneath the bumper sticker.

I’m forever grateful to author Byron Katie who asks us, “Who are you without your story?” She opened my eyes to the world of subtraction which added a whole new perspective on who I am beneath my additions.

I believe life is a trip out and a trip back. The trip out is filled with adding all sorts of things: an identity, preferences, prejudices, positions, and host of different roles to play: butcher, baker, candlestick maker. We get lost in these additions and can’t see the forest for the trees.

Then, at some point, we get an invitation from out of the blue to turn the corner and return to our essence – the completeness we were born with. If we accept that invitation, we begin subtracting our bumper stickers one by one and realize, beneath it all, we are already everything under the sun.

I encourage you to revisit the basic math of life and find out what phase you’re in and decide if you need to add any more, or should you head on down to the bottom floor and open the door to subtraction.

Here’s the bumper sticker: Subtraction Adds Fullness To Life.

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version below.