No man is an Island....but we are ALL.....

onions. That's right. ONIONS. One of my favorite scenes from Shrek is the scene where he and Donkey discuss how Shrek is like an onion. LOTS of layers. (See this is what insomnia brings. Lying in bed at night tossing and turning and becoming philosophical. Combine that with watching the evening news and EEKKKKK, no wonder I start to ponder). So, as I laid there with Mr. Sandman obviously passing my bed over yet again, I got to thinking about all the different types of "onions" we all are. Unfortunately, there are plenty of onions rolling around our society that look perfect on the outside. Yet, when you start peeing away the layers they have a perfectly rotten center. Yuck. Pity that rotten core is seldom revealed before the rest of the onion has already been tossed in the recipe of our life. Nothing worse that having to start the whole freaking recipe over again. Most of us use all our layers to PROTECT our center. We try to develop tough skins that are difficult to peel away. If that doesn't deter someone we try to keep them back by being "strong" enough to make their eyes water. (Defense mechanisms can be brutal to both parties). We spend our lives building layer upon layer of defense mechanisms to ensure that few, if any reach our center thereby REALLY getting to know the REAL us. Heck, sometime WE don't want to know the real ME. Often, having those layers peeled back is pretty painful. Not only do others get a step closer to knowing who we really are, but we do as well. I think that with all of the challenges we each face in our daily lives it all to easy to loose ourselves and build those layers. Who we are, and most importantly what we NEED. There is a huge difference between what we WANT and what we NEED. Figuring out what I want is easy....KNOWING what I NEED is the hard part. Fear is also a great layer builder. Fear of getting hurt, fear of failure, fear of a chronic disease and yes, even the fear of being a success. Some spend so much time being afraid that they miss out on so much. Friendships, new adventures and yes, even success. I think we've all been there at one point or another in our life. Wouldn't it just be a lot easier to do the work and shed some of those layers?