Opening the doors to self

I am realizing this morning, reading Jack Kornfield's The Wise Heart, how easy it is to get caught up in identity and ego; to get tangled and anxious over what is me and what is not me, and how people might perceive that.

It's as if we create doors within ourselves, only opening them to a few select people -- and sometimes there are deeper levels of doors to which even we ourselves have lost the keys.  Or perhaps we tossed them at an early age, deciding what lies behind them is just not fit for viewing. 

But self is so much bigger than those narrow definitions of me and not me, so much more passionate and creative and exciting than what we allow to be opened; like a fabulous garden spilling over with a profusion of vibrant and colorful plants...