By Patricia Frank….
When you go backstage after a performance you risk having the illusions of the show shattered. Some people do better with this than others. It depends on your personality and on your deepest needs. An illusion is a misconception about the true state of affairs or the true value or content of something. It always involves some deception. An illusion has a character or appearance that doesn’t really exist.
Many of the truths that you tell yourself have the character of an illusion. They are a faulty perception of reality and the true nature of things. They can be a chimera; a fantastic or monstrous product of your imagination. They can also be coping mechanisms. However, at some point in your life they should be reexamined and scrutinized. The reason you created the illusion may no longer exist or no longer be necessary. If left alone, these misleading beliefs can become burdens. In therapy you go backstage in a sense. Therapy can help you strip away illusions, delusions and fantasies that you tell yourself which are often imaginary and many times misguided. The ostensible reasons for your beliefs and your behavior appear only on the surface and are not necessarily the real reasons. These apparent reasons do not hold up to examination of the relevant facts or circumstances. They may seem one way but they are not. They not real or true. Taken to the extreme, a delusion in a psychological context is a symptom or form of a mental disorder. If you do not understand yourself or your motives you cannot fulfill yourself. You become a victim of your own misunderstandings.
There are fantasies and fanciful ideas and perceptions that are actually beneficial to have. You can create good illusions; the illusions of happiness, abundance, health success, and peace. Eventually, they will transform you and become your new reality and manifest in your life. Draw back the curtain. Don’t be afraid to go backstage.
Patricia Frank is a Licensed Psychotherapist. She can be reached at 305-788-4864, 212-308-0309.
