You are NOT your…

• job
• job title
• car
• family
• past
• addiction
• mental illness
• physical disability
• learning disorder
• who someone else says you are
• looks
• ability in sports
• education
• how much money you have
• how much money you don’t have
• IQ
• where you live
• what club you’re a member of
• who you know
• what someone else thinks of you

You are what you think of yourself.

And you’re all you’ve got.

Masks come in a lot of forms and if you want to get anywhere spiritually, they absolutely have to go.  It’s easy to figure out who someone really is by observing them to see what masks they’re wearing.  Once you figure that out–imagine them without them. Most of the time people don’t remove their masks–it’s done for them by life.  It’s not their choice and they can only be removed one by one. Unfortunately, even after this brilliant opportunity for growth, most people never remove enough of their masks or leave them off long enough to gain the benefits that were supposed to come out of the experience.

The best example of who someone really is,  is who they are without any money.  Everything can be a gift if we open it right, but this one almost always stays wrapped.  Losing everything has a lot of blessings attached to it.  Being broke is pushy too and if we handle it correctly, it pushes us in the right direction. The social-climbing and high-class problems definitely take a back seat.  Less is more, so losing material things is simultaneous to gaining what’s important which is always spiritual.  There’s an equation I haven’t completely figured out yet, but it seems how much we lose materially can be gained spiritually in the same measure–the farther we fall, they higher we can rise.  This is, of course, when our priorities aren’t in order.  After they are, we can gain materially and spiritually at the same time.  But, at first, this is almost impossible with most of our society because we worship money instead of God which is tragic 🙁

I’m a big believer in education and this doesn’t have to be from an ivy league school–a library card and the internet will do the same thing.  The problem I see over and over is that some people will work hard to obtain a really good education which can help them get a good job, etc., but they make little or no effort to grow spiritually and emotionally.  So, the scales are tipped and people with glamorous job titles are sporting that particular mask with a 15-year-old maturity level.  The insecurity that comes with this mask causes a lot of problems because that person will be running on ego instead of confidence.

As with most things, balance is the key.  A really helpful tool is to try to look at people’s insides, not their outsides.  People look at the outsides.  God looks at our insides.  How someone portrays themselves outside can be  a reflection of their insides, but money and charm can hide this contradiction and easily fool us.  Ted Bundy used this mask and we all know that horrific story.  The money mask doesn’t just fool the one profiling, it fools the wearer.  People who are really sick inside will often try to make their outsides look good to not only fool others, but to fool themselves.  Most people either cannot or will not be honest with themselves and this is one of the most tragic things there is.

We have to learn to love ourselves.  We are all we’ve got.  Self-love comes from loving who we really are–on the inside.  We are not what we’ve done.  So, we take off our masks and become honest with ourselves which will free us and give us peace.  Stop trying to fit in some lame box you were told about by your parents or society or whoever.  Fit in your box.  Celebrate your differences and allow and encourage others to be different.  Different may not even really be different–it may just be you’re one of the few who find out who they truly are.  Celebrate that.

You are…

• a human being–God’s highest creation
• one of God’s children
• highly intelligent and chances are you only use 10% of your brain because the masks you’ve been wearing have kept you from trying to tap into your subconscious–the most important part of your mind
• a being with the ability to love–the highest emotion and most valuable asset you have or will ever have
• a genius–every single person has an area of genius–but few ever find out what theirs is
• talented, but most people never find out what their true talents and gifts are–or even sadder, they know what they are and don’t develop them
• a person who wants to be the best they can be and to find out who they truly are–or you wouldn’t be reading this
• courageous or you wouldn’t have started and stayed on your journey which will complete your circle of life
• full of personality–your personality–who you really are whether it be introverted or extroverted, etc.
• extremely lucky to have discovered that soul-searching is what leads us to growth and that growth is our primary purpose
• giving and fortunate to have realized that this is what leads us to our true selves and to real peace and happiness

Being calm, still and aware is required for us figure out who we really are so we can learn to love ourselves.  There is one simple thing I constantly remind myself of that keeps me on the right track–we come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing. And this, of course, means the masks will be left behind with that fancy car.