Imagine the Shift of Taking Off Our Costumes

One Halloween prior, Jerry and I freed our Inner Cheerleaders while also lifting the quantum energetic level of the local NFL team. Within 24 hours of our 'appearance' the Titans finally had their first 'W' in the win column. A series of wins followed. (Come to think of it, the Titans could use us again.)

As the handful of trick-or-treaters made their way down our street, we cheered: "We've got candy, yes, we do. We've got candy, how about you?"  

Halloween always prompts memories of my mother chauffeuring my siblings and me around our one red light town as we trick or treated. One woman always passed out homemade popcorn balls while another dressed as a witch poured cider from a black cauldron.  At night's end, our den floor became a mini stock exchange as we traded loot with one another. I was as mesmerized by the colorful wrappers as the candy inside. 

This particular evening, I found myself most curious as to how free being in costume made me and how restrained those driving past on our street appeared. My long pink locks unlocked the part of me that unknowingly had bought into being invisible or seen but not heard as a kid.
 

Drivers headed down our dead-end street solemnly stared ahead driving in haste or stared at us without a trace of humor, not even a nod or slight smile. One lone college-age girl happily shouted, "What's going on here?" This rare drive-by support was so unexpected we hardly shook our pom poms. 

Our favorite treaters of the evening were Lily the cheerleader who inspired this trilogy of sorts and Candy Man outfitted in twizzlers, gum drops and Hershey kisses. Their costumes prompted a realization.

Although Halloween's associated with shadow, the dark, mysterious and scarey side of life, Ella and Lily's costumes conveyed their very essence, not shadow.

Candy Man has the sweetest, most caring heart I know and the cheerleader has the boldest of spirits. Given their parents and friendship network, I suspect their essence will not end up in their shadow to be remembered in therapy or self-help circles later in life.

So many of our individual problems (which in turn become societal) comes from gradually and unconsciously putting on the "costumes" we wear the other 364 days of the year.  We gradually come to believe we need these costumes for protection and status, to please others or to portray we don't need others or from the need to be invisible or visible. These layers and labels first separate us from who we are then in turn separate us from one another.

 

So often what we decide to portray betrays who we really are in spirit and essence.

I wish for each of us a remembering of who we are in our essence and a gentle laying aside of our costumes.

Imagine the shift that brings and Happy Halloween.

-Dawn, The Good News Muse,  31 October 2012

dawn@imaginetheshift.com