Mirrors & Ghosts

                                                  Picture by National Geographic

Mirrors & Ghosts

South Beach on New Year’s Eve was flooded with bodies radiating excitement, clothing to tempt the emotions, voices that challenged the spirit, movements that spread passionate energy, looks in search for transgression.

But, I wondered what each of those spirits really wished for 2012 when they reached home and met alone with their mirrors?

We dressed with different identities throughout our day. We are friends, daughters/sons, siblings, neighbors, lovers, students, buyers, workers. Our identities tend to be noisy. We make noise to push the scars deep inside; we know they could jump at any moment to take care of themselves. We make noise to cover our fears of being rejected, ridiculed, and criticized. We make noise to cover our fears of dreams that could turn into frustrations, fears of realizing we are alone, fears of going for things or people that are not socially successful, fears of being politically incorrect, fears of being portrayed just common, fears of being our vulnerable being, fears of having scary desires, fears of finding our voices.

What would it happen if we took off our ‘suits’ and we dressed only with ourselves? How comfortable would we feel? How would our façades transform?

We have the capacity of building close relationships with others, but many times the relationship with ourselves is impersonal and distanced, full of obstacles and masks. How many times our bodies miss the personal connection with our most profound desires, fears, dreams? How many times do we dress them?

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

What are our most ‘valuable’ masks? Are we prepared to put them down?

Inés