Undoubtedly, we all don masks, a social veil that permits us to form, forge and live in the real world. There is not a person alive, born or breathing that doesn’t wear it. We have one face for the world and another that often hides behind it. Relationships these days seem to be increasingly conditional. To some degree, we are all manipulators, narcissists and selfish, from time to time, because duplicity flourishes in our world today.

We are all made up of layers, we all possess the good, the bad, the ugly… all those rough and raw elements that make us who we are. More angel than devil? More practical than sentimental? Perhaps a tad bit, more pragmatic than emotional. Ask yourself, who you are truly, on the inside. What do you carry in your core? Who resides in the belly of your naked truth? Lift that veil, drop that mask. Unearth those secrets, the reasons, the people who created you. Look in the mirror – really look… beyond your physical form – view the very essence of you.

You could find yourself struggling, even fighting, to choose which of your own versions you most relate to. It will take time, but you will find the answer eventually. Perhaps, not the one you expected as the conclusions of finding your authentic self may surprise you. But, in the end, it will be a cathartic moment of your very personal reckoning resulting in your spiritual growth.

We act differently with different people – always being the best, tolerable versions of ourselves around others. But when the mask drops, it is ‘you’ – your favourite version of you… those beautiful, rather, strange parts of our personalities surface when we are alone. Every aspect of your personality – the way you walk, your tone, your thoughts, expressions… all change in the blink of an eye. You can laugh like a hyena, sing like a crow, dance crazy, look disheveled and be just lazy. It’s the real you and you don’t care. We can be clumsy or graceful but being by ourselves helps us discover and explore the darker corners and secret passages within. When no one’s around, we may dwell in purity or darkness, buried emotions pop up, revealing perhaps kindness and compassion, gratitude and want. Even when no one’s watching, you may lend a helping hand to that elderly gentleman crossing the street, or give a seat to a complete stranger in the train, just because you realized, they needed it more than you.

We are bundles of controversies, images of different people. We are the dark secrets we conceal and the wounds and scars we bare; we are the mistakes we’ve made but also the love that radiates from within. We can be living breathing contradictions of ourselves at most times. But we are the naked truths to ourselves. “Who am I really?” is perhaps the deepest, most significant question we may ever ask of ourselves. The answers vary over time, the question stays constant.

You are the voice of truth when you bare your soul… You are the vision that looks beyond all the pretenses, lies and deceptions. You are the person capable of sin and crime, either feeling ashamed or swimming in a sea of churning debris, shameless and guiltless. You are the person who may eke out wealth, rank and honour, so viewed by the world, whilst all the while standing on the graves and moans of others. You are that person wrapped in your experiences, traumas and suffering. You are the only person seeped in your thoughts and memories. Your reality is as deceptive as you choose it to be. Sometimes it takes a minute to recognize yourself, but a lifetime to create the perception you want the world to acknowledge.

Who you are really is when all the pretense is dropped, the lies peeled. Not by the world, not by another, but when ‘you’ and only you are ready to remove that blindfold, or strip off that painful curse of disconnect between the outside glare and the inner sanctity of your being.

When you learn to embrace your true uniqueness with all the scars, wounds and stabs, the blood and bleeding oftentimes flow faster to heal you from within. Do not fear the ‘You’ that was created in all the honesty and purity of the divine. Do not fear the years of pain that corroded your being, or the years that chipped away and forged you. Now, that is the you, that life intended.  Cause really, ‘When the masks are off the true battle begins’, only to leave behind a lingering sense of calm and peace unlike anything you have ever felt before.

Once you polish off all the masked presences, you are left with only the stark truth. Whether you choose to accept or deny it completely and indefinably your choice and yours alone!