What Kind Of Mask Do You Wear
Posted: Monday, August 16, 2010
by Grace O'Malley
How many masks do you have in your arsenal?
Fear keeps us from showing everyone what is really going on in our heads or in our hearts so we put on masks. The smiling mask when we are sad: the laughing one when our world is falling apart. Maybe it is the stoic one when instead you would rather be mourning a loss. How about the polite one when you would rather be ranting or the silly one when you would rather be crying in the corner?
We all wear disguises. We hide behind them so others will get close enough to see inside. We could get our feelings hurt or do/say something humiliating. Is that such a bad thing? What we lose along the way could be worse. It is akin to taking a medicine knowing there might be side effects. Is it worth the chance to find out, or will you persist on suffering the indignities of the problem, just in case.
Sometimes masks are a necessary evil. Strangers do not need to know everything and shouldn't. But how do people go from being strangers to being friends without taking those masks off every once in a while?
Fear keeps us from being who we truly are. It is not easy admitting we are imperfect. Fear not though, no one is. No one. We may be green with envy that someone has the ability/look/good fortune that we do not, but they have issues too. Some of us have more than others, but so what? If we do not put ourselves out there with what is truly our face, then we will never grow.
In order to find ourselves, we must face fears by digging down to the deepest most hidden part of ourselves, that place where we dread to see what is hidden.
When we dig deeply enough, we find not darkness but light. And the realization that our safety lies in letting down the mask and actually being seen as our true self.
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do things you think you cannot do'
Eleanor Roosevelt
What kind of mask do you wear?
Fear keeps us from showing everyone what is really going on in our heads or in our hearts so we put on masks. The smiling mask when we are sad: the laughing one when our world is falling apart. Maybe it is the stoic one when instead you would rather be mourning a loss. How about the polite one when you would rather be ranting or the silly one when you would rather be crying in the corner?
Sometimes masks are a necessary evil. Strangers do not need to know everything and shouldn't. But how do people go from being strangers to being friends without taking those masks off every once in a while?
Fear keeps us from being who we truly are. It is not easy admitting we are imperfect. Fear not though, no one is. No one. We may be green with envy that someone has the ability/look/good fortune that we do not, but they have issues too. Some of us have more than others, but so what? If we do not put ourselves out there with what is truly our face, then we will never grow.
In order to find ourselves, we must face fears by digging down to the deepest most hidden part of ourselves, that place where we dread to see what is hidden.
When we dig deeply enough, we find not darkness but light. And the realization that our safety lies in letting down the mask and actually being seen as our true self.
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do things you think you cannot do'
Eleanor Roosevelt
What kind of mask do you wear?
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)GraceI would love to say I am a completely open book with no masks. What you see is what you get kinda gal. It is easy to be an open book when you are in your comfort zone. When all in your reality stays on an even keel. Then it happens. Someone walks into your tulip patch. Some unseen Universal Force pushes you to have new experiences. Plucks you from your warm comfy comfort zone and puts you under a spot light to see how you will react. Yup that's when you pick up the mask. At least that is how it happens for me. I love the quote and am just going to have to print that out and put it in at least five different rooms so it is in my view over the next few days.Thank you for a wonderful article at the perfect time.mwahCarlaOh those darn tulip patch walkers! That quote has inspired me many a times over the years. Enjoy having it around!Grace
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