Every day, we are repeating stories about our past experiences, our joys and sorrows, as if these are our selves. Every day, we are being told by social circumstances who-we-are. And these social forces try to sell us their notions and products as if we couldn’t exist without this idea of our selves. From birth, our identity is distorted by this repetitive internal and external conditioning. “All That Once Was You” is a collection of poems that begins with an exploration of who we think or were taught is our self and guides the reader to a different understanding of self through subtly introspective poetic meditations on what it means to be human. With honest, vulnerable inquiry and through precisely crafted poems, we explore deeply profound questions about the nature of our existence. In poems that are deeply mindful, yet accessible; evocative and precise; simple and elegant, “All That Once Was You” invites the reader into deeper self-reflection, questioning and ultimately to inner wisdom. Filled with fresh observation and beauty, delicately nuanced music and urgency, these poems guide the reader to a new yet ancient understanding of purpose, dignity and humility, restoring us to a self that is loving. “So wonder with me/ now will you begin?”