Dr. Ben Bowers

10/30/21

During the COVID Pandemic Era, mask wearing had become considered something that was essential in helping to reduce the potential spread of the virus.

Many conversations were had about what type of mask we should wear. Should it be a single-ply, double-ply, and even triple-ply. Should we wear a disposable mask, or a cloth mask (considered to be washable and reusable yet most never did), or for the best potential protection we should wear an N95 mask, and some even suggested a  ventilated gas mask. The discussion was intense and emotional with all that was happening in the world!

Then there was the “other” conversations as to whether it should be mandated, required, recommended or just suggested. Did this violate our rights? Did wearing mask even work at stopping or reducing the exposure and the spread of the virus? Then there was (or still is) the political aspect, the life-saving aspect, the community or herd aspect, the patriot aspect, the “right thing to do” aspect, and even the religious aspect.

Well, that is not what this post is about.

I would like to address a different aspect of wearing a mask!

I propose that we all wear some type or some sort of mask in our daily lives! And many of us wear multiple types of masks throughout our day and even throughout our entire lives.

Now, there are many, many, distinct types of masks that have many different components depending upon who is wearing that type of mask and when they are wear that mask.

So, what type of masks do you wear?

Which of the following types of masks have you worn or are currently wearing?

Are you wearing the: Man, boy, male mask; or the Women, girl, female mask; how about the Child or Parent mask; how about the Single, Available vs. Not-available, Married, Divorced, or Widowed mask; how about the Victim, Failure, Defeated, Suppressed, Limited, Restricted, Worthless, Low Value – Low Self-Esteem mask; how about the Anger/Angry, Bitterness, Hatred, Pissed-Off, Aggressor, Warrior mask; how about the Average, Mediocre, Simplistic, Don’t Rock the Boat mask; how about the Analytical, Educated, Professional, Superior, Athlete, Goal Setting, Driven & Accomplishing mask; how about the Emotional, Depressed, Introvert, Reclusive, or the Outgoing, Expressive, Extravert mask; how about the Loved versus Unloved mask; how about the Healthy and Whole versus the Sick and Unhealthy mask; how about the Employee, Business Person, or Business Owner mask; how about the Know It All (fixed mindset), versus the No Nothing (open minded) mask; or how about the Religious, Spiritual, or Evolution masks?

You see, there are a lot of masks that we wear on a daily basis (multi-multi-ply) and I am sure that there are many more that could be described or identified.

For me, I believe that all of this can be evaluated in two different major types of masks that are what I refer to as double-ply type of mask, which does have two different components: Protection and Projection!

Protection: I believe that we wear this type of mask layer to protect our heart and emotions! This is really where we value our own self-worth! This is referred to as a façade! We create these barriers (think of very thick brick walls) in an effort to protect things from the outside (daggers or missiles) getting into our most private sanctuary. For it is in our Private Inner Sanctuary that we truly know who we are, and what we are! Every time we experience some sort of or type of pain that entered into our Private Sanctuary, we feel real pain! And we will do our best to repair the damage to our outer barrier walls and add another layer of protection. We rarely, if ever, will let anyone see or visit our Internal Sanctuary! Why, because of all the previous pains that we have experienced when we actually let someone in to see who we really are. When they came in and began to poke around, mock at, or attack us inside our sanctuary – we feel pain! And that is a pain that we really never want to experience again!

Projection: I believe that we wear this type of mask layer to project an image of what we want the world to see and then think we are that mask! As we have lived, learned and developed in our environments, we have come to learn that since the Protection Mask can be penetrated, we will put on another mask as a shield to avoid receiving any potential missiles that we have experience being shot at us in the past. With the Projection Mask, we can be the type of person that does not get those missiles fired at them. This also allow us to project our “Super Hero” aspect that helps motivate other people to our vision of who we say we are. This mask, actually allows us to “Pretend” that we are someone else! And the more we wear it, the more we “think” we are becoming it. This mask allows us to present ourselves to the world as someone who is in control; we have great confidence in who we are; we do not fear; we are not lonely; we are not confused or weak! We wear this mask to hide who we really feel that we are and to project the opposite as if it were true! This way, we hope to over come the fear of people finding out who we really are!

One of the major problems that I see with wearing this 2-layer mask is that we get really good at pretending we are the Projection mask. By doing this, we are really lying to ourselves on a daily basis. This then causes a value conflict inside our Inner Sanctuary. That then weakens or affects our Protection mask! This will cause some confusion, and therefore, we will continue to create our own self-built prison!

We say that we are “okay, we are all right” when in fact we are hurting and “not okay or all right” at all! We say that we are “great” when in fact we are in some sort of misery! We say that we are “awesome, good, fine” when in fact we are not any of those! Inside, we really feel like a broken person hiding behind well positioned walls that can display magical tricks of ever-changing illusions!

We truly panic at the thought of our Inner Sanctuary being exposed. So, we will then spend as much energy and effort as we can afford on repairing or rebuilding the two distinct aspects of the masks that get worn down and we just become tired of it all!

You see, most people in their Inner Sanctuary really just want to be Loved! Valued! Accepted for who they really are! They want to be free of all the confusion between the two layers of masks! They want to stop pretending, hiding, and lying to themselves! They want to stop fear and of being afraid! They really want the façades to come down and for them to be able to be them without all the fear issues that they currently have!

All We Really Want IS To Be Loved and For The WAR To Be Over!

As a physician, I know that once the history is taken, it is time for the examination process. It is time to get to the “causation” of the issues. So are you ready? Let’s go to the mirror and ask the following questions:

• Who Am I? Really down deep inside my Inner Sanctuary?
• What do my Protective Barrier mask walls look like? How high and how deep have I built them?
• What is my Projection mask? Why did I select it? What does it mean to me? How does it help me?
• What is the Super Power that I really want?
• What is it that I am really concealing or hiding?
• What would happen if I went without my masks?

If you will truly evaluate these questions, then just maybe, you will be able to shine from the inside out and the world can deeply appreciate all that you are and all that you have become!

And, so that the next time you truly look in the mirror at your Inner Sanctuary, then you will not be fooled or be fooling others!

Remember, the masks you wear are always crumbling and falling apart!

And this is a good thing.

Why you ask?

Well, for you to receive the love, value, acceptance and freedom – inside your Inner Sanctuary, you must have doors to let it in and not walls to block it! With doors, you can then let that same love, value, acceptance, and freedom out to the rest of us who are looking for the very same thing!

After all, that is a “Win-Win” result that we all can benefit from!

So the next time we see each other, let’s both take our masks down, and genuinely appreciate each other’s value, love, appreciation, and freedom together! If we can and will do this, then I believe that we truly can change our world! A world where we are no longer living in fear, behind multiple masks!

May God truly bless you as you strive to live a life of fullness, one that is not limited by mask wearing!