Retiring the Possession Tags

Metaphorical Narrative

It’s as if a rider forces a mask over your head — the head of a horse, a goat, a beast of burden. The straps tighten, and suddenly the world looks at you as less than human. Every step is bracing for the whip, for ridicule, for being treated like an animal. Yet when you pause and touch your own face, you discover the mask is paper-thin. It was never your skin. The possession was only a trick of ego. And you can peel it off in one motion, dropping it to the ground.

Core Insight

Ego’s animal tags act like possessions: they prepare your physiology to endure inhumane treatment, even before anyone mistreats you. The nervous system remembers “in this place, I was the horse,” so it primes the body to crouch, brace, or submit. The tag makes you feel smaller, weaker, less deserving of dignity.

But this possession is not real ownership. By naming the tag, you expose it as just a costume. By declaring the role retired, you return sovereignty to your body. The reset works because it cuts the link between old cue and automatic self-image — a fresh evaluation each time.

Saturday Experiment

1. When you notice bracing or shrinking, whisper: “This role is retired. Not my possession.”
2. Place a hand on your chest and breathe slowly once, reclaiming your own ground.
3. Finish with a sovereign act — lift your chin, clap once, or look around the room to anchor in today.

Sunday Reflection

In third person, reflect on the week:

• Which “animal masks” showed up most often?
• What changed when the tag was named and retired?
• Did energy return when possession ended?
• How does it feel to walk through the world without bracing for treatment that never came?