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Breathe Life Into Pages.

Freelance Writer.

Poetess.

Hello, my name is Samantha. I am a professional columnist. The purpose of my work is breathe life into hearts and pages.

Psychology of Halloween

Halloween. It was originally a Pagan holiday but now a fun and frightful day to experience new characters. Various teachers have explained that Halloween is the holiday about human biology and instinct (especially fear) and sheds light on our fight-or-flight response. Halloween can be a safer approach for individuals who struggle with continuous fear or apprehension. Halloween can be a confined space to have apprehension and enjoy the unknown. Halloween not only represents death and rebirth, but can also represent a human's unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind represents all previous experiences and instincts. These can include our buried sensations, motivations, and feelings we are not aware of but included in our everyday choices. This is our survival part of our brain. Another portion of our brain is the amygdala. This part of the brain plays a major role in the emotion fear. Some fears are part of our biological makeup. While others are more exciting to experiences. Our brain likes to pays attention to things that are more scary than pleasant because of our need to survive. Halloween is appealing to many individuals because it plays off of these instincts. The brain and body are naturally drawn towards like what it can relate to.

The six instincts are often presented in Halloween themed movies and costumes (part of basic human make up) are:

Rage

Fear

Pleasure

Creativity

Hunger

Action

One of the most powerful instincts is to seek. Humans are made to move forward.

Dopamine is the messenger responsible for wanting to seek or pursue. We need to seek water, food, shelter, or a mate to keep the human species. We can seek or hunt for new opportunities or gather new information for the benefit of ourselves, families and communities. Many times we seek the above because it is in our blood to fight for a good cause. We experience joy in food to continue to eat and nourish our bodies. We create and express to be seen in our community and take action to feel like we are.

Ego and identity is how we have constructed ourselves in the mind. Pasted lived experiences develop and refine it. Identity is formed within one of multiple archetypes. An archetype is a pattern of thinking or blueprint within the psyche or the soul. It shapes our perception and behaviors. We can identify with an outer archetype and an inner archetype. Examples of of common archetypes are:

Magician

Outlaw

Explorer

Sage

Innocent

Creator

These above archetypes play a role in our worldly perceptions and deepest desires. They also play a role in our unconscious mind and identity.Identity tells us what we like, dislike, and our main ‘personality’ that we present to the world. However, there must be room for contrast. Our unconscious holds what we might be. It holds our deepest instinctual desires. This is part of the thrill of Halloween. People are wearing and dressing up as their alter ego or what their sense of self or identity rejects.

Halloween is a symbol of the shadow. The term is very popular in the spiritual and psychology fields. As it refers to the counterparts of our persona. The shadow or shadow self (inner archetype) is the part of ourselves that we do not show to the world. This archetype is the part of ourselves that society would reject or would go against our morals and values. Halloween could be a representation to explore these parts of ourselves in the means to not be afraid of them but also not act on our impulse. Whatever is in the conscious mind is in the light. Therefore, it cannot control us blindly.

Persona (outer archetype) is the blanket around our ego or what has gotten us the most acceptance in this lifetime. This is the assumed image of a person but not the real authentic person. Many individuals like to dress up as their persona to enhance what how they would like to be viewed in the world. However, our persona, identity and unconscious mind are not all there is to being a human.

We need a deeper purpose in the greater picture of our lives. A sense of purpose is needed in a human being. Identifying with a job, career, or relationship status will not be enough. The best way to find purpose in one's life is to develop an inner moral compass while maintaining responsibility in everyday life. Everyone needs a sense of urgency, agency, and responsibility in life. Part of having a sense of responsibility is facing fears directly.

Responsibility will ground you when life times get tough. You must take responsibility for your life and the values you have even if living through your truth makes you uncomfortable at first. Each of us has a shadow and a conscious mind. Each of us has a responsibility to not allow our shadow to take over. We can integrate it or make it included within us but not act on it. The safest people are the ones that are aware of their shadow or blind spot because they actively seek awareness.

Our shadow selves hold our highly driven emotional motives. Halloween can be both celebrated or revered. It is a symbol of death and rebirth and motivates us to take responsibility for our faults or shortcomings. Without responsibility and awareness in one’s life, we can be sure to diminish ourselves into the realm of impulsiveness, aggression, and violence.

However, you would like to identify with this year for annual festivities. Remember, you are a mosaic of multiple selves living in mind. Your persona, ego, identity shadow self, conscious and unconscious mind are included as a living being. Your continuous actions, intentions behind those actions, sense of responsibility and your power of conscious choice ultimate defines you as human. Allow all portions of you to be included in you and learn about the ebbs and flows of what it’s like to be a human being.

you are three people