What Masks Are You Wearing?
As we approach one of my favorite times of the year, Halloween – I’m reminded of all the costumes and masks people wear to celebrate this festive occasion.
It triggered my thinking this week about the many masks we have all worn in our lives – and may still be wearing. How many of these masks serve as an authentic expression of who we are? And how many of these masks are a cover-up for drowning out our own inner voices?
Have you ever stopped to think about the many labels that you wear in life – maybe you’re a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a teacher, a loyal employee, a neighbor – and the different masks that are required to show up in these roles?
For some of us, these labels are true extensions of who we are – therefore, no masks are required. We just show up authentically and shine our inner light in a different direction.
But for many of us, these labels serve as expressions of obligations or beliefs that were imposed on us, by self or others.
On an evening walk this past weekend, I couldn’t help but take in the beauty of our lunar goddess as she began to make her way out of her new moon darkness and into her first sliver of light. It was a glorious sight!
It was just enough light to see the definition of the moon in the night sky, bringing her out of complete darkness – but not quite enough light for the waxing crescent phase.
It reminded me of those many times in my life, when I would peek my head out of that place of “not knowing” into the light of possibility – with a vulnerability and a curiosity about what life might be like if I stepped out without my masks?
Getting a glimpse of this light, both inner and outer, always stirred an excitement within me.
This is the beauty of the waxing crescent moon phase – a peek at what’s to come when we embrace our own authenticity and muster up the courage to step out mask-less. As we watch the magnificent waxing silvery white circle in the night sky, we can sense our own transformations taking place. It’s during this phase that we can see the moon starting to peek out from beneath the layers of her darkness.
Approximately three days after the true dark of the moon, you will see a tiny sliver of a moon, like a fingernail, appearing in the sky at sunset.
Imagine this fingernail as your authentic self, scratching to get out.
During the phase of the waxing crescent, there’s a strong need to expand the understanding we have of ourselves – and it helps to look at things from a fresh perspective.
Who are we underneath all the layers and all the masks – and how emotionally are we connected to that part of us? When we peel off all the many labels that we wear every single day and begin to remove our masks, who are we – really?
The waxing crescent moon phase is an ideal time for connecting with our authentic voice – and how we’re truly intended to be showing up in the world. It invites us to embrace the rawness of who we are – and to live, create, and manifest from that energy.
When you think about the rawness of who you are, what emotions get stirred up within you? Do you even know what your rawness looks like or feels like?
And how does this rawness honor the woman you truly desire to be?
This moon phase is perfect for contemplating these deeper questions and exploring them in your journal.
Tina Games
Tina M. Games is the author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery (an interactive book with an accompanying deck of 54 journaling prompt cards). As a certified creativity and life purpose coach, and a gifted intuitive, she is the “Moonlight Muse” for women who want to tap into the “full moon within” and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally. Through her signature coaching programs, based on the phases of the moon, Tina gently guides women from darkness to light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion and creative expression. She lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her husband and their two children.
8 Comments
Bonnie Nussbaum
Tina, I love your descriptions of the moon in this prose…more than a blog post, in my opinion! Makes me want to run outside tonight and check what she looks like tonight!
Dorothy Fitzer
Funny – I’ve been thinking of this lately. Noticing my challenges letting go of “stressed, tired mommy” and “hard working entrepreneur”. They haven’t left much room for much else.
Thanks for the reminder!
Veronica
Such a haunting prospect – what lies beneath the mask and how does it serve us? I love your writing – carries with it a bit of mystery. Currently I am a traveler but it is but one aspect of my identity. “I am” is abundant! Beautiful and thank you.
Cher
Tina,
I enjoy your prompt of looking at the roles we play as choices that enhance our authentic selves and hinder them. I’ll be examining this more closely… 🙂 Thank you.
Cher Gunderson
Masteryouraccent.com
Kailean
Raw is what I’m after. No masks, nothing but who I really am in whatever area of my life I am presenting myself. I love your languaging. You make the emerging experience sound so beautiful as it follows the path of the moon. Thanks for the post.
Christine
Such a perfect time of the year to write about masks! I understand the need for people to hide behind their masks and how emerging from them reveals their true selves. People can only emerge when they are ready and how wonderful that the moon is there prompting, supporting, revealing, illuminating in wonderful, beautiful rhythm, giving all the chance in their own perfect timing to emerge when they are ready. Tina, your posts make me long to be out under the moonlight which I don’t do nearly as much as I used to. 🙂
Patricia
Beautiful post Tina!! I love how you say that the waxing crescent moon phase is the ideal time for connecting with our authentic voice and the rawness of who we are, with no masks. Lately, I’ve been feeling more and more, with great intensity, that I’m not willing to wear any masks, that I must live my life from that rawness – from that energy, because it feels so right. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Teena
Tina – I love how you gently invite me to go deeper in this post and reflect on the many masks that I might pull out and wear on a regular basis. It’s so important for me to feel that I am expressing my authentic self not just to the world around me but most importantly giving myself the permission to love this part of myself. Makes me want to dance whether it’s under the light of the moon or in the darkest parts of the night.
Teena
http://www.coupletherapyconnection.com