When somebody shows you who they are,

...believe them...

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When somebody shows you 

who they are, 

believe them. 
 


Don't make excuses

for their treatment of you,

or their treatment of others.

Don't try to bargain or argue 

with that comfortable, familiar idea

of who you thought they were.

Don't try to shape them into 

someone that they're not,  

or someone that you hoped they could become.


That path leads only

to more suffering, 

and more heartbreak. 

Trust me, I know...


It is harsh, uncomfortable

and disquieting to learn 

that there are be people in our lives,

whom we loved and cared for,

shared our secrets and dreams with,

who are so practiced at masking, 

at pretending,  

at putting on a show, 

that they no longer notice 

when they’re doing it - 

and neither does anybody else.

 

Life has taught them

that this is the best way, 

perhaps the only way, 

to protect themselves from harm or danger

- real or imagined - 

if they want to continue to survive.

And they want to survive,

so they do - at any cost.

 

But sometimes,  

sometimes... 

sometimes those carefully constructed masks and personas

will falter, 

the strings loosen, the plaster cracks,  

the facade becomes too heavy to hold

-just for an instant - 

sometimes.

 

In those moments,  

a curtain we never noticed before is drawn back 

and we can catch a glimpse  

of the so-called wizard, 

feverishly working their levers and pulleys

putting on the show, 

but the magic is lost.

 

Were you paying attention?  

Did you catch it?  

This was a moment of clarity, of truth.

This is who they really are -  

behind the mask, behind the facade, behind the curtain. 

This is the moment when you,  

Dear Ones,  

are faced with a difficult choice.  

Now that they've shown you who they truly are...

you have to choose whether or not 

to believe them.



Some things to consider...



Was the part they were playing one of protection, 

to keep something (or someone) tender safe? 

Or was it a play of deceit, a twisted story 

to keep that something (or someone) tender under control? 



Can you tell?  

Does it matter? 



Who was the target audience?  

Was it you? 

Was it the world?

Or perhaps, 

are they maybe long gone,  

a whisper of a childhood memory 

pulling strings from the past. 



Can you tell?  

Does it matter? 



Can you still love them,  

respect them, engage with them

now that you've seen behind the curtain?  

Do you still want to? 

Because this does matter.



Can you understand?  

Can you have compassion?  

Can you relate to the fear of the person 

crouching low behind their mask

hoping beyond hope 

that you didn't see, didn't notice, won't add it all up.



And if you can,

do you still want to? 

 

Get deeply deeply curious about how you feel,  

how you really feel, 

notice how your heart and mind and body feel,

now that you know, 

now that you’ve seen the truth.

 
Because now that you know, there is no going back.  

The way it was “before” does not exist

- was any of it real? 

Maybe, who can say...

But you cannot go back, 

you can only move forward, 

only move onwards, 

ony move outwards into the present

with how you feel,

with what you know, 

with or without them.  



Because remember, Dear Ones, 

this is your One Wild Life 

and it is yours to live.

You get to choose, 

you always have a choice

who walks alongside you on this path,

and who is no longer welcome

on this journey.


xx 

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