Inspiration:
Spirit of Life, teach me to recognize the difference between the discomfort of stretching toward my truest self and the pain of twisting myself to match a false image of who someone else thinks I should be.
To Be Seen
No matter what our religious beliefs, being seen for who we truly are is something that most of us rarely experience.
Look around—we are a people of masks and disguises. We are a people who have been taught to transform ourselves into what others need us to be. We’ve learned the roles and rules—the art of subtle artifice. We’ve come to believe that most people don’t want to see or hear what we feel, what we need, who we are. We’ve learned that most people don’t want to see the messiness and confusion that each of us carries inside. We’ve learned that only parts of ourselves are publicly presentable. Other parts must be hidden away. For acceptability, approval or promotion, we conceal the rough edges, the broken places. Appearance is the key.
We are afraid that if anyone truly sees inside us, they will run screaming from the sight.
What have you hidden from view? What don’t you let anyone see? What don’t you let yourself see?
There is a great price to pay for this fragmentation of our frailties. We cut parts of ourselves off from others. We cut parts of ourselves off from our own self. We become segmented people, compartmentalized false creations rather than the complex people we naturally are. And then we wonder: “Why do I feel out of sorts?” “Why do I feel like something isn’t right in my life?” “Why don’t I feel like me?”
BY TIM KUTZMARK, MINISTER, UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF READING, MASSACHUSETTS TO READ MORE