What are "labels"?

Labels are the identities and roles that have been imposed on us by others or ourselves. These labels can "cast a spell" on us and become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Were you the "black sheep" in your family? The "smart one"? "The beautiful one"? Often these kinds of labels are imposed on us at a young age by our families. All too often we end up living out the label, bowing to the pressure created by the expectations of those around us. The power of suggestion, along with social pressure, can induce us to believe and act out the roles in which we have been cast. These life scripts can become "living coffins" that hamper our ability to recognize and embody all that we can really be. We are buried alive trying to live up to, or down to, expectations that do not relate to our true potential.

What are the effects of living out these labels?

Aside from limiting, clouding or distorting our sense of who we are and can be, labels can also lead us to live out roles that are the projections of others and not a part of who we really are.

Our true selves are often deadened, our true voices muffled, and we lose sight of our capacity for spontaneity and intimacy. For example:

In epidemic proportions, families are structured around polarities such as "the good" and "the bad," "the winner" and "the loser," or "the lucky" and "the unlucky."

Polarization also occurs in every culture and country: the "enemy" is "bad," while one's own group is "good." One polarity always depends on the other for it's existence: there can be no "winner" without a "loser."