I Wear A Mask, No More

Three years ago today I wrote and posted my first blog for this site.

The theme; “I wear a thousand masks -- and all of them are me,” was apt at the time. Today, I don’t know how I would improve upon that motif.

Regularly I am incorporating my “Anastasia the Storyteller” persona into my daily life, sharing my stories, more and more frequently and spontaneously, behind that mask.

Am I still the enigma I was once considered, though I am carrying my once, held close stories, into my sense of who I am in the world. Somehow it seems as if a mystique still remains about me, even to myself as well as to those who encounter me. Should they take the time to consider me, at all.

I wear a mask,
 no more.

And, how many are there, in this fast-paced world we live in today, who actually take the time and have the inclination to know anyone else beyond themselves, if that?

The tragedy is, of course, that, in part, a sense of self; a knowing of who one is in the world, is an interactive process.

Who I am and what I experience in you, the generic others of my life, shows me much about who I am now and can be in the future, the best course to follow on this life path of mine, as well as the not so productive and the lessons I need to learn in order to be whole with myself and the world I live in.

Some people know this, others seem to not understand it so well. “This” is about the art of leaning in; choosing to build bridges with others, wholesome and healthy that is the highest of life affirming ways.

I have a self; a definition of “I.” And, I have a sense of you, a personal awareness of you, as an individual, and of you as a part of the collective. What we are all doing here in this world, this walk we call life that, sometimes – and sometimes not – is consciously an earth walk with our souls, the essence of us that resides somewhere other than here on the physical plane.

Anyway, here I am three years to the day, after posting my first blog on this site, knowing that the process of writing for this blog site has prompted a growth spurt in me that would never have occurred otherwise; an ongoing, expanding sense of wholeness with all of life.

I am quite changed by the experience of writing this blog. And, I do hope I have contributed some to you, my readers, too.

I do not know how I got from there to here except for a few hints.

1.       I never, ever consciously avoid the dark in me, totally certain am I that the light is just beyond. (With you I might be a bit cautious like I am with my neighborhood snakes until I know what kind you are.)

2.      Leaning in, with the intent of building bridges with anyone and everyone I meet, is a rule of life for me.

3.      I was reluctant, even rigidly resistant, formerly, to embracing this way in years bygone; the committed path of leaning in as a rule, not the exception for a priveleged select few. Though I should have known that my dark side was having a hand in the game.

(More on this point in the future.)

The bottom line: Gratitude, for this precious life and the people in it who infuse my heart and mind abundantly with the light that, perhaps, I did not, formerly, see as well as I do now.

Thank you, my readers, for the adventure we have shared.

Happy Three Year Birthday, Anastasia The Storyteller!