Unmasking© Your Illusion

Do you know someone struggling with perfection? One way a person works to create the illusion of perfection is through appearance, and often people will work hard to ensure they look impeccable. The major problem with this is although the person appears great on the outside, the truth on the inside is often full of self-doubt and low self-worth. These secrets keep a person sick. They put on a happy face to mask their true feelings and inside they suffer. Perhaps you are one of these individuals and you believe as long as you look good, no one will know what is going on inside. The problem however, is you feel like a phony, and the clothing or accessories are only a mask that you hide behind. When you do pull off being “okay” then you may feel worse as you may feel deceptive or possibly feel good the game is working. The only reason anyone wears a mask is to pretend to be someone or something else. The disguise expresses the emotion that you want the world to see and believe.

When we think of appearance it can take many forms such as body image, and the clothing you wear, and even our accessories. That does not mean you should not try to look good, but you will look your best if you heal your pain. Problems occur when people stuff their feelings then explode when it is not possible to keep things inside.

Problems arise when your mask slips and your true emotions slip out. We all have known people who we thought had it all together only to have them have a breakdown or commit suicide to the shock of all who knew them. So, this is about getting real. Getting real about how you feel about yourself and determining what you need to do so your outside matches your inside. Let’s look at the areas where appearance can be used as a shield.

Keys to a congruent life include:

• Get some help
• Find people who will support you and help you talk honestly about your feelings
• Find a trusted counselor or minister who will help you work through the issues that keep you hidden
• Know that the work it takes will be less than the energy to run from it

Although it does take work, this is some of the most important work you will do. Your life, and relationships and even your health will improve …. I know, because I took the journey.