Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Self-Dramatization v Self-Transformation


There can be no transformation without self-awareness for I must first know who I am before I can truly know what needs to be transformed. Yet, in my experience, people seem to want to skip this part of the transformational process and go straight to reinvention.


Vague feelings of discomfort or even of self-hatred may inspire us toward change, but if we do not dig deeper into the source of these feelings, all efforts toward self-transformation end only in window dressing where flimsy curtains are hung so as to hide the still very real and very present unwanted traits.

In this process of seeking to be different, to be other than what we are, wherever there is a lack of self-awareness, what we end up with is not self-transformation but self-dramatization. Having skipped over the first step in the process, the individual can only act out a role he or she wishes to play, rather than being transformed into the person he intends to become.  What he is left with, then, is playing a role in a tragicomedy.

What? You don’t think people close to you can’t see the affected behavior, feel the stress and tension this continual act is placing on you, can’t hear the inauthenticity in your voice? Don’t you think they are entertained when they see you walk out on the stage and realize you have forgotten to put your mask on, forgotten the memorized lines, and all you have to fall back on is being your true self?

Oops!

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment