Who is the mask for? It doesn’t matter if you put it there, or others placed it upon you.
We all are wearing masks, covering up and keeping ourselves ‘safe’ and protected. How dare we reveal what is really going on in our world. How dare we say what we really feel. How dare we ask for help.
When the mask begins to slip the first reaction is to shoot up your hand and put it back in place.
Did anyone see the real you even for a second? What will people think? How will they react? What will they say? Will they be upset that underneath there is a very different story taking place? Do you feel shame and guilt because you exposed the parts of you you never dreamed others would discover?
Holding on to the mask is exhausting. Tiring. Painful to keep in place.
The thing is, we’re all wearing them:
- Masks of shame.
- Masks of guilt.
- Masks of regret.
- Masks of struggling.
- Masks of pain.
- Masks of fears.
- Masks of imperfections.
- Masks of failures.
Let it slip. Let it fall. Remove the layer.
Why?
Here you go…
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” Singer, Jim Morrision
You’ve been walking the ocean’s edge, holding up your robes to keep them dry. You must dive naked under, and deeper under, a thousand times deeper. Rumi
“…be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” Henry David Thoreau
“Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: it is your greatest asset. Be vulnerable: quake and shake in your boots with it. the new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things can only come to you when you are vulnerable, i.e. open.” Stephen Russell
Read the last quote again please.
Dawn xxx
Kitty Kilian says
Yay! I wholeheartedly agree.
Dawn says
Hey you — how are you? I nipped over — no subtitles — although I did understand some words — it’s not my Dutch that’s improving, it’s that Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook have no alternatives. Should I go somewhere else to find subtitles? Dawn
Jacob JAn says
Hi.
I’m Fine.
(just now in the midst of a lesson myself, so feeling a bit wobly)
there’s a subtitle ico on youtube. It used to be “c.c” but it’s now a box with two lines. (lower bar, on the right, next to the settings button) that doenst work for you?
What a shame.
I’m began to record my “lessons-for-life” in english. This is the first one.
http://youtu.be/YUfoIFYhr3k
Bit that’s not the one about the masks.
Il’ do that one next.
Jacob JAn says
thought I had posted it. but here it is, in english:
http://youtu.be/loTd_igWbEk