Smile wide enough to hide no secrets

August 19, 2018 2:24 PM

It’s deeply healing and liberating to stop hiding from ourselves.

That’s where real freedom comes from. The courage to be fully seen. In all our imperfect glory.

But the tricky part is, hiding takes many forms.

Shady disguises. Convenient excuses. Tidy narratives.

That’s why we are often the last ones to realize that we’re hiding. Our vision is obscured.

Yossarian comes to mind, the protagonist in one of the great satire novels of all time. He asked the question of his fellow fighter pilot:

How can see he’s got flies in his eyes if he’s got flies in his eyes?

Hence the term, catch twenty two.

Our goal, then, is to understand the many ways hiding happens. Here are several examples.

Planning is a form of hiding.

Getting ready to get ready to think about possibly considering the option of executing is a certainly a form of work, but it’s not the work that matters. It’s just procrastination. Besides, we’re never really ready.

Privacy is a form of hiding.

Not that we have to share everything all the time to everybody everywhere. But if we keep doing work that guarantees we remain obscure, and then go hating the world for not knowing who we are, it’s because we’re scared. Afraid of putting our whole heart on show, revealing our feelings to the crowd below.

Another form of hiding is inappropriate and excessive attention to detail. Because it feels like the responsible thing to do. And in certain cases it is. Everyone wants to avoid the sloppy mistakes that make rejecting their work easy. But when we cross the line from professionalism to perfectionism, it’s likely because we have an addiction to control.

Busyness is also a form of hiding. Even if running around the forest putting a few chops in each tree feels satisfying and productive, deep down, we’re still afraid to commit. By spreading ourselves too thin, we’re still avoiding the focus that allows us to make a real impact.

And lastly, complexity is a form of hiding. Yes, it feels like progress. It helps us preserve the illusion of effectiveness. But what we’re hiding from is the naked terror of simplicity.

Free yourself. Smile wide enough to hide no secrets.

Cast your heart out from a place where you were comfortable. And see what happens.