Costumes for Life: What Aspects of Yourself Do You Wear?
I’ve always loved Halloween, learning who are today’s heroes and villains and what triggers the imagination of little kids as they march door to door in happy anticipation of the sugar high to come Halloween night. I also enjoy seeing what costumes adults choose to express themselves when given a chance, as I saw this weekend when I hosted a booth at a Healing Arts fair which included a costume competition.
I often think that we are all actually wearing costumes all the time. Or as one beloved friend, (now deceased), a political drag queen named Tede Matthews, once said, “We are all born naked. Everything after that is ‘drag.’”
I think many people think of who they are as somehow fixed, unchangeable, a result of different circumstances that have happened to them over their lives. Or, as scientist Bruce Lipton describes, they mistakenly believe that they are simply victims of their own genetics, with no real choices along the way. For example, have you ever heard someone get so attached to their own irritability, impatience or defensiveness that they explain it away as simply being “just how they are” or “born that way”?
I actually believe we make choices all the time that influence and affect who we are. What costume, or the aspect of your personality—humorous or serious, will you be wearing this week, including and beyond Halloween?
Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.