Life is too short to keep things inside; to pass up opportunities to tell the people in our lives how we feel about them. Each time I think about holding back I realize that although I think I will have the chance to change my mind later – I may not. Maybe I won’t have tomorrow. Maybe they won’t have tomorrow. The idea of someone I care about leaving this Earth without knowing how deeply I care about them is very unnerving for me.

The idea of me leaving this Earth without people I care about knowing exactly how I feel is just as unnerving. I realize that I probably express myself too much at times and that might be annoying to some people. But that’s who I am, and as hard as I try I just can’t keep things inside. I’m expressive. That’s just part of my life. Accept it or not, I don’t think that will ever change. I try to take into account the way other people respond to and interpret what I have to say, but in the end if I have something to say it will be said.

I’ve taken many chances in my life with expressing myself to people who misinterpret what I have to say and who don’t know how to accept compliments when I give them. That’s completely understandable. I just say what I feel, and expect nothing in return. I wish that everyone could be as open as I can be at times, because I sometimes see things in people that are completely bottled up and stuffed so far down inside of them just screaming for an opportunity to be let out… but without some kind of safety net they can’t. It’s scary. And I can feel that.

There are so many masks that we put on when we go out into the world that sometimes we forget to take them off when we come back home. Sometimes they’re glued on – layer after layer and they feel so natural that they become a second skin. We forget they are masks. We think we’re being honest. But something nags at us, telling us that something is wrong. But when we’ve built relationships around a mask that we mistakenly thought was part of who we really are, if we take off that mask we will appear to be a liar.

Even though it was an honest mistake and we even fooled ourselves into believing that our mask was real. What do we do? Pile on more masks. Convince ourselves that it doesn’t matter. We can’t risk losing everything we have – we want to hang onto what we have. The thought of losing what we have is too devastating that it just simply is not an option to pull off the masks. Thus more masks are born.

But even those who become upset when they discover that we’ve been hiding behind a mask – are, themselves, hiding behind their own mask.

If you look at people with your eyes you’ll see imperfection. You will see only what the masks allow you to see.
If you hold expectations of people you’ll experience frustration and disappointment.

If you look at people with your heart and love them purely for who they are as a whole – you will find beauty in every facet of their soul and you’ll not only be able to accept the traits which would otherwise cause you frustration but you’ll be able to smile, genuinely, despite what goes on. You won’t see what the masks allow – you will see them as if their masks don’t even exist.

You will be able to easily and naturally accept them the way they are. You won’t even see physical traits as undesirable “but love them anyway” – no, you won’t even be aware of that concept. Your brain will not process anything as undesirable. It will turn your whole world around. You’ll experience a purity that you can’t find through any other means.

You’ll no longer feel the desire to change anyone. Even if it would benefit their self-improvement, you will encourage them when they want to take that step but you will have no desire to initiate it because you’ll finally understand that you just simply cannot do it. They have to do it completely on their own.

You’ll be able to see a piece of someone’s soul in everything from the moon to a beautiful pink sunset with the clouds hanging low… you’ll feel them in everything, and you’ll finally realize that there really is no separation in this world – everything is connected. Opening yourself to real Love just helps you experience it first hand. It stops being a theory and becomes a reality.

Walls and masks, masks and walls. Are they to keep others out? Or keep ourselves in? Can others remove our masks and knock down our walls or do we do it ourselves?