Most of us will have either seen the movie or the stage show called the “Phantom of the Opera”.

This production and the central character in it are appropriately symbolic of the masks that we all wear during our daily lives which cover up our authentically true selves. Much like the Phantom we wear these masks to hide those parts of ourselves that make us recoil in disgust.

Allied to the masking process we develop addictions to many external things such as food, drugs, sex, gambling, alcohol, shopping and the like which given us short-term relief from the deep seated painful emotions we feel as a consequence of the insecurities generated by our lack of self-acceptance. However, this relief is only short-lived and our addictions can have signifcant negative impacts on our lives either through causing physical disease to our bodies, psychological dysfunction or the destruction families and other important relationships. Continue reading →

How often do we miss or ignore opportunities that may well give us exactly what we want because we are focussed on protecting the status quo or because we are just fast asleep at the wheel?

Shouldn’t life be lived fully! Isn’t it better to burn out rather than to fade away?

Yet most of us seem to live quiet desperate little lives trying vainly to hang on to all that we have fought so hard and long for and  go to any lengths to live long boring work orientated lives. But is there any real point in living long lives if the quality of those lives is so poor? Are we working hard just to survive and pay the man? Continue reading →