I am no fan of Halloween, though I have been more into it since I had kids. They get super excited about the spooky decorations and the scary costumes - not forgetting the cookies and candies of course! Even though I do not celebrate Halloween in a special manner, this year I let my imagination go wild and picture what costume would I pick if I were to wear one. Which mask would I select within a thousand possibilities that could match my persona right now.
After some thought, I picked a skeleton. Let me tell you my reasons. A while back I started re-investing on my personal development. It is not as if I quit and started from scratch. I see personal development as an ongoing process since it is never a finalized job.
One goes through a myriad of life transitions which raise constant questions and challenges. Some new, others connected to childhood traumas and unresolved matters. Here I use the word trauma not to spook you (not a Halloween trick!), but rather to bring awareness to the generational patterns we keep repeating and reliving our entire life – if we do not break them.
It is exactly where personal development comes into the picture. When we work on ourselves, on expanding our conscious as well as unconscious, that we find ways to break these old patterns and create new ones. Coming back to the skeleton and why it is my pretend Halloween costume for this year. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a skeleton the first image coming to mind is perhaps not the most appealing one. A bunch of bones stacking on one another, looking stiff and barely connected, a representation of death.
However, this is only one way to look at it. What I also see in a skeleton – within this Halloween context – is a solid nudity. A skeleton is devoid of its layers, of everything that is carried by it that does not belong. Walking among other costumes, it does not care if its nakedness bothers or shocks anyone. Proud of its rock-solid figure, it takes a step forward with no fear, even knowing that it can crumble before the next one.
Even if we take death into the equation, it is a way to keep us humble. A reminder that life on earth as we know it is finite and with it our chance to work on ourselves, to grow, to evolve.
There are indeed tough moments, challenging days and weeks when working on our personal development.
Sometimes one feels like a skeleton, walking around emotionally naked, awaken to one’s own vulnerabilities. Whenever that skeleton takes one step forward, a part of it totters, sometimes hitting the ground and breaking a few pieces. Until it bounces back again finding its own rhythm.
The skeleton is aware of the rocky path ahead and accepts the challenge even not knowing what the next it will find around the next corner. Trusting that its resilient bones will make the journey worthwhile, including ending up as a somehow altered figure.
In this Halloween, I want to honor the skeleton in me. And I am inviting you to honor whatever Halloween costume (pretense or not) you feel is mirroring your inner world this year. Let us celebrate our personal growth – and potential for expansion – together!
