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Are You Hiding Behind a Mask? What to Do If You Don’t Feel Like You Can Be Who You Are
by www.Sedona.com
“Most of live behind masks all the time based on the false assumption that we are somehow safer behind them,” says Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training of Sedona Training Associates.
“It is like a little child hiding behind his own hand and actually believing that his whole body has disappeared,” he says.
These “masks” are there because we have either not figured out who we are, or because we’re afraid who we are won’t be accepted.
“We feel that people may not like who we truly are so we try and become what we think they want us to be,” Dwoskin says.
Yet as we all walk around trying to be “normal,” we overlook an extremely important factor: other people are looking at you as their “normal” gauge, just as you’re looking at them for yours.
The person who is “you” is exactly what you have created them to be. Your experiences, your beliefs, your motivations and your actions have shaped you into who you are. Yet, when you hide behind a mask and try to act out of alignment with who you really are, you will begin to feel uneasy.
“When you’re afraid to be who you really are, you lose touch with the truth of who you are and act in ways you may later regret,” Dwoskin says. “You’ll also feel uncomfortable in your own skin because you know you are not being genuine.”
So why do so many of us feel uneasy speaking up for our beliefs and living our own lives, while dreading the thought of not fitting in?
Because we are afraid that somehow we are inferior to those around us, and we lack the confidence to believe otherwise.
Yet if you really think about the worst thing that could happen if you feel free to be yourself -- that someone may not accept you -- it’s really not so bad. After all, if you can’t be genuine with someone, why do you want to be around them?
If your fears and insecurities make it difficult for you to be who you are, use The Sedona Method to release them. You see, when you let go of your need to be how others want you to be, the sense of contradiction within you will disappear. And you will then feel your inner confidence shining through.
“Your best approach is to let go of wanting to be the way others want you to be so you can simply be yourself,” Dwoskin says.
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