Wearing social masks is part of our coping mechanism.
The real question is:
Why do we need them?
If we cut straight to the chase here – it is because there is a feeling of inadequacy living in our psyches.
And guess what!
Who cares?
Because everyone feels it, has it, experiences it at some point.
But you should care.
For it is rather liberating to free yourself from this little habit of conditioning – and to just step into who you truly are.
Really!
So the next time someone asks you ‘how are you’ – don’t just stand there and say ‘fine’.
Say ‘I am actually fighting with my kids, trying to keep my spouse happy, and stressing about a promotion’. Or whatever the truth is.
The thing is – we mostly think all these things but lack the nerve to really say how we feel, or what we are struggling with.
And, we are far too self-sufficient to ask for help, or just for someone to hear us out.
The price is high
So our bodies start contracting, hunching over to cover our hearts.
Our hearts suffer when we live this type of inauthenticity.
After many years of living this way, we are shocked when we hear about the escalation in heart disease.
Unmasking
In yoga, the heart opening asanas, will over time and practice, make it impossible to wear a mask.
Because every time you practice the heart openers like back bends and camel, you surrender. You have to, otherwise the asana will not be possible.
Surrender.
Surrender into the truth of you.
Sometimes it makes you cry – sometimes it gives you anxiety – but just keep at it.
The day will come when you just fall into it and smile.
We are our own guru’s.
We know when we are wearing social masks.
We know when we start ‘making up a story’ that sounds better than what it really is.
And that is when you have to stop.
Listen to the story – and feel your body, your heart beat.
Something will feel off, out of kilter, just not right.
I was an award winning social masker.
I functioned like a Russian doll, with the big doll holding all the other dolls nicely intact.
But I was still All Doll.
Those were the days before I unhinged myself and lay on the floor – face down.
The days when I said I was a thespian, when asked what I did for a living.
But it all came tumbling down, and Humpty Dumpty could not be put back together again.
And many years later, I can say this:
Don’t Steal from the Universe
Being who and what you are is your biggest contribution to this life, and to all.
Otherwise you rob this world of you.
There is no one else exactly like you.
You are the gift to you and to everyone else.
The Unrepentant Wayfarer 