Prompts · 12 min
The mask you don't remember putting on.
Some of who you are is genuinely yours. Some of it was handed to you so young you thought it was skin. This prompt is a slow inventory of the difference.
Answer these one at a time. Do not scan them first. The value is in the surprise of the next question after you have honestly answered the last one.
Twelve questions
- 01What was I praised for as a child? Do I still do it because I love it, or because I fear what happens if I stop?
- 02What was I shamed for? Have I ever grieved that shame?
- 03Whose voice do I hear when I criticize myself? Is it mine?
- 04What opinion do I hold that I have never actually examined?
- 05What am I afraid people will find out about me? Would I love someone else for the same thing?
- 06What do I pretend not to want?
- 07What do I pretend to want because it looks good to want it?
- 08Where in my life am I performing intimacy instead of having it?
- 09What would I do this week if no one would ever hear about it?
- 010What would I stop doing this week for the same reason?
- 011Who am I when I am completely, unwatched, alone in a room?
- 012Is that person allowed out here?
The mask is not the enemy. Forgetting it is a mask is.
Close the notebook. Do not reread it today. Some truths need overnight to settle.
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