I Am, Before Everything Else

Sit upright, eyes closed. Quietly notice all the ways you describe yourself in the day, I am tired, I am a daughter, I am a teacher, I am late, I am hungry. Each of these is true at its level. Now, gently set them all aside, one by one. Beneath each 'I am this', there is a simpler 'I am'. Just the bare existence-feeling, without any predicate. Stay there. Nothing more is needed. The 'I am' is not a thought, not a name, not a role. It is the quiet certainty in which all the rest gets to appear.