Boo! Now THIS is Really Scary! – Episode 489
Scary witches, goblins, ghosts and ghouls! It’s Halloween time!
But you know what’s really scary? CHANGE!
Not only that, but it can be hard because there is always a dark side of change and that’s the scary part. Change is scary because a large part of our mind does not want to change.
In this episode, I talk about the meaning of Halloween and uses the dark part of the year as a metaphor for the scary part of change. Listen to this episode so that you can take off that mask you’ve been wearing for so long and let everyone see the true vision of who you can be.
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Are you going to dress up for Halloween? What are you going to be for Halloween? Ever wonder why we wear masks on Halloween? Why we dress up and disguise ourselves as ghosts, witches and monsters? (To see me wearing a really creepy mask, watch this on YouTube)
The modern holiday of Halloween has its roots in both the Celtic celebration of Samhain and the Christian holiday of All Saints Day. Samhain (“the end of summer”) celebrated the end of the “lighter half” of the year and the beginning of the “darker half”.
The name Halloween comes from All Hollows Even, meaning the night before All Hallows (Saints) Day.
The ancient Celts believed that the veil between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmful and harmless spirits to enter into the realm of the living. Good spirits of deceased loved ones were invited in while harmful spirits were scared off by wearing costumes and masks.
You know what’s really scary? CHANGE. As a hypnotherapist I help people change, and change is not easy. What’s scary is the “dark side of change”. What is the dark side of change? It’s leaving what is known and comfortable for something unknown and uncomfortable.
Our minds are powerfully drawn to the familiar and comfortable (habits of thinking and behaving), even if we’re aware that they no longer working for us. Our current way of being is rooted in our deeply held beliefs. For change to occur, new beliefs must be formed which create new habits, new behaviors and new results. A new spirit, if you will.
Ancient traditions such as Halloween help us understand the nature of change. To begin the process of transforming ourselves, we must remove the mask of who we feel we are and have always been, and try on a new mask (or identity) that’s more in line with our vision of who we want to be.
The new mask will be uncomfortable and foreign, but the wearing of it scares off the dark side of change, or the spirit of the old behavior, which can hurt us by holding us back from our true power, our “good (god) spirit”. When we don our new identity, we invite that helpful spirit in.
There will be conflict as we try to get comfortable with the new idea of who we are. We will be tempted to put the old mask back on, and at times, we will. Yet, we must continue to wear the new self-perception, the new vision, getting comfortable with it and making it a part of our life. We must remain diligent to not allow the old spirit back into our thinking and behavior.
Quite often, while you are letting go of the old behavior and adopting the new, we’ll have to deal with the darker half, or shadow side of ourselves , which will attempt to sabotage our best efforts.
You’ll be challenged by the dark side of change, and you’ll be tested. You’ll think it’s too hard and want to give up. Just ask anyone who’s tried to quit smoking or lose a significant amount of weight. They’ll tell you, “It’s like there’s two parts of me, one that wants health and the other that wants to destroy me.”
The best way to scare off those nasty spirits is to be enthusiastic. (enthusiasm: en theos, or “the god within”) We enthusiastically keep pretending and affirming who we want to be, in our language, in our thoughts and most importantly, in our behavior. We must continue to hold on to our highest value, or the highest vision of who we want to be.
You want to come to believe in, and hold a vision of, a life that inspires you (inspire: “the spirit within”), so that you can ward of the ghosts of your past and triumph over the dark side of change.
It’s interesting that All Saint’s Day was originally celebrated on May 13th, in the spring. This date coincided with the ancient feast of Lemuria, where the harmful spirits of the darker half of the year are appeased and exorcised.
As you move into the darker half of the year, take time for introspection. Go deep into the dark places of self-knowledge and acknowledge and accept the masks that need to be discarded. Can you keep their negative influence away with your new face? Can you scare off the dark side of change with powerful trust and belief in a new way of being?
All traditions have their origins in human experience. Our desire to release the old and welcome the new is in accordance with the seasons of life, that ongoing cycle of birth, growth, death and reinvention.
In my practice, I often point to the breath as an example of releasing the old and bringing in the new.
Here is a quote from Amelia Barr, who was an English novelist and teacher in the early 20th century.
“All changes are more or less tinged with melancholy, for what we are leaving behind is part of ourselves.”
One of my most popular recent podcasts was When Calm Waters Get Rough: Navigating Life Transitions – Episode 484.
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Changes are happening so quickly these days. If you’re struggling with transition and changes that are out of your control or, if there are changes that you want to make but are having a hard time with the dark side of change, request a complimentary phone consultation by going to https://tedmoreno.com/contact-us/. You can also DM me on Instagram @tedamoreno. I’ll get back to you so that we can talk and see if work together is the way forward for you.
Thank you for listening. Get outside and see if you can appreciate the beauty of this time of year.
We’ll talk soon,
Ted
p.s. Listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Soundcloud or TedinYourHead.com. You can also watch this podcast on YouTube.
