Unveiling, Unraveling MASKS
So, I'm still getting into the swing of blogging for my business — I mean, I'm still getting used to doing it regularly (making, at least, one post per week). I've always been the same way when it comes to posting on the book of faces . . . that is to say, it doesn't naturally occur to me to alert the world around (and/or, the world halfway across the globe!) as to whatever is going on in my head. The introversion I just described is not itself a mask that's in need of unraveling. (It's simply my natural inclination to lean inward.) The reason I introduced this post by describing my natural introversion is because I automatically defaulted to offer an explanation on my own behalf, due to my assumed inadequacy of this blog thus far, and especially the inadequacy of this particular post (thanks again, 13 years of Catholic schooling!).
Why was I assuming inadequacy, you ask? I sat down at my computer, feeling almost as if I were grasping at straws to come up with something worth sharing in a post with my audience. Because, there's only so much interesting news to report when it comes to running a business. Sure, I've had a few firsts that I've mentioned in previous posts . . . but, I do realize that nobody else is as excited as I am when, say, I acquire an office space, or sell a package deal. And, again, I'm basically new to blogging. I finally came up with something worth sharing — that is, my wonderful, albeit personal, experience in taking the Awakened Grace class we recently completed at the LightSong School of 21st Century Shamanism and Energy Medicine, which focused on unraveling the masks that we humans wear in our everyday lives. And yet, in spite of how worthy of being shared my experience in that class was, I found myself hesitant to blog about the unraveling of masks because it has nothing to do with Laera's Lair. OR . . . on second thought . . . does it? Perhaps in more ways than one, at that?!? Unraveling masks IS, after all, all about healing. And, Laera's Lair is all about healing, too! In fact, unraveling layers of masks is a key part of wellness coaching, one of the modalities that I offer!! Most, if not all, of the soul-searching Why? questions through which I guide my clients during wellness coaching do unveil masks of various forms, and the work to follow consists largely of unraveling those masks. I just hadn't been referring to the underlying reasons for clients' ailments by using the term "masks" in my own work. Not only is the topic of mask unveiling and unraveling pertinent to Laera's Lair because that's actually one thing I've been offering to clients all along — but the very fact that I even once judged this post I'm now writing as being inadequate, further demonstrates the relevancy of mask unveiling and unraveling! — because such critical judgment is illustrative of one of the many masks that I myself as a human have worn for years. (Why not share some of my own personal healing journey? I've got nothing to hide from my audience. As a healer, I put on no facade of being 100% healthy myself . . . after all, such a facade would be seen straight through if I ever tried to don it anyway, because everybody reading this knows that I'm human, too!) During my aforementioned Awakened Grace class, taught by the amazing shaman and teacher Jan Engels-Smith, founder of the LightSong School, one mask that I unveiled was that of my Personal Drill Sergeant. That mask I've worn that has a tendency to be too hard on, and too critical of, my own self. Even though I'm at a place in life where I really don't believe that I'm inadequate — in fact, I'm filled with gratitude for where I find myself! — residual habits and tendencies toward certain actions (i.e., doubting the adequacy of, and overthinking, a dadgum blog post!) nonetheless pop up here and there. One of the things that I'm incredibly grateful for these days is my ability to notice such masks when they do pop up (and thereby strip them of their clout, slowly but surely, more and more as time goes on). Here's me posing with my handmade physical rendition of my Personal Drill Sergeant Mask (camouflage background, as it not only is militant, but puts the camo to full use in its surreptitiousness as it sneaks up on me . . . with some razor-sharp neon edges in the foreground, to boot!) . . .
