H  A  L  L  O  W  E  E  N        I  S         T   O   D   A   Y.          .          .

or    is    I T?

Do you remember?

When was the last time you actually went HALLOWEENING?

When was the first time you actually went Trick or Treating?

What was your favorite Halloween outfit?

Was it reflective on WHO YOU WANTED TO BE?

Superman?

Princess?

Monster?

Lawyer?

Nurse?

Doctor?

Mad Scientist?

Astronaut?

Nun?

Priest?

If there were a Halloween party tonight and you were told to dress

WHO YOU WANTED TO BE,

WOULD YOU DRESS UP IN THE FASHION OF WHO YOU ARE NOW.   .   .

Or Would you Dress as Someone Else?

It’s not a Holy day,

It’s not an Anniversary,

It’s not a Birthday,

It’s not a Holiday,

It is Halloween–the only day–we actually celebrate

EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, isn’t it?

What day of the year,

or even what part of the day

WOULD      NOT      BE      HALLOWEEN?

It’s actually an ancient Celtic holiday

on which people believed they needed masks

to protect themselves from bad spirits that roamed the earth

on Hallows Eve

.          .          .but we’re still wearing masks–lots of them,

aren’t we.           .           .

Psychologists tell us that one of the reasons

we wear MASKS

is because of the

I M P O S T E R     S Y N D R O M E:

THE  FEAR  THAT  WORLD  IS  GOING  TO  FIND  US  OUT.          .          .

One of our greatest fears is

that if we SHOW

our true selves,

the world will SHOUT:

“OH,    IT’S   JUST   YOU!”

Oscar Wilde once said,

“BE    YOURSELF;  EVERYONE    ELSE    IS    TAKEN”

Well, Susan Sparks, in Psychology Today tells us there’s at least

T H R E E    R E A S O N S

for us to take of our MASKS:

1.  So we can live LIFE our full potential.     .     .We are not 1 in a million, YOU are just one singular, magnificent, most awesome an INDIVIDUAL  
2. Just for RELIEF.          .          .It’s exhausting taking on/off/on/off/on/off/on/off all of these Masks, plus you forget WHO YOU really are.
3. Just for HEALING.          .          .Wearing Masks carves out your truest SELF; we weren’t Born with Masks; WE put them on, so WE can take them off; 

E. E. Cummings wrote:

“The  greatest  battle  we  face  as  human  being  is  the  battle  to  protect  our trues  selves  from  the  self  the  world  wants  us  to  become.”

  Are   you   authentic?

The      REAL      YOU?

DO YOU SHOW UP AS YOU 24/7, 364 days a year or are you truly more of a

HALLOWEEN PERSON?

H     E     Y.          .          .

It’s   November   1

Halloween was yesterday.          .          .

Think about taking your Masks off.       .       .

Most wouldn’t be shocked if when

we took off all of our masks.           .          .

there would still be more?

Seriously have you ever seen/viewed/spied your bare, truest self?

Have  Y O U  ever seen  Y O U ?

When  T H E Y

show up on YOUR front porch,

knocking on YOUR door,

yelling into YOUR ears:

TRICK      or       TREAT–

Give them NEITHER.           .           .

Give them what they’ll never expect,

what they never saw coming,

what NO ONE,

not even you,

has ever truly seen:

G I V E           T H E M           Y O U!

Maybe,

maybe the best Halloween of all.           .            .

is actually no Halloween at all!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm   of   the   DAY:

Maybe the Best Mask of all

on  Halloween

is  the  one  that’s  been  taken  off

and   l  o  s  t.                .                .

Riddle   me   that,

B      a      t      m      a     n.            .            .