Shapeshifting – The Ultimate Social Skill

Shapeshifters.

Women are drawn to them.  Men fear them.  Usually depicted as gorgeous otherworldly men with flowing hair, broad shoulders, rack-abs, and nice….um, fitting jeans, these extraordinary beings can change at will into a wolf or a bird of prey or other creature in order to protect loved ones from enemies of the most vile nature.  In their world, it’s all about survival.

In Christine Feehan’s Dark Series, the race of Carpathian men shift into huge birds, leopards, and even mist riding on the wind, in their struggle to keep their rare breed from dying out.

Jacob and the boys from La Push Indian Reservation shapeshift into werewolves in order to fight the vampires.

In novels, it is usually about life and death.

But what about the rest of us mere mortals?  In our day-to-day life we may not have life or death choices to make, but we still have the need to survive, don’t we?  Some people have beliefs and routines that are engraved so deep, even a train blasting down the tracks at top speed couldn’t make them step aside.  It is a type of survival, to protect what they hold close in the face of what they consider to be a threat to their very soul.  There is no question as to where they stand in any issue.

For the rest of us non-confrontational folk, there is another path, one that is inherent in all of us.

Enter the real-life, modern-day shapeshifter.

Most of us have encountered those people who can move through the day, interacting with just about everyone and befriending them all, regardless of anyone’s position or focus in life.

Those are the people who seem to have so much charm and charisma, that when their attention is focused upon us, we feel like they are speaking our language and can relate with what we are talking about.  We’ve seen it – the nodding of the head at the perfect time, the lighting up of the eyes at something we say, the mirroring of our thoughts.  We may have never met them before that moment, but we feel like we have known them forever.

It is quite possible they are shapeshifters.  That is not to say that they aren’t being sincere, because they are.   They are genuine in their intent to slip inside whatever world we occupy.  They are people who have mastered the art of calling upon a certain attitude and persona in order to serve them in any given situation.  They could be salesmen, politicians, waiters, business owners, good friends, even family members.  The ultimate peacekeepers and socialites – anyone who has a goal in mind or has a desire to keep everything on an even keel.

Shapeshifting is an ability we all have, one that we have used since childhood – knowing when to put on a face of happiness or a look of concern, when to be apologetic even if we don’t believe we are wrong.  If we can call up our energies to adapt to any change, if we can adjust our behavior in order to achieve a particular goal, we are shapeshifters.

This is the magic that takes place not on a physical level, but on a psychological and energetic level.  Anyone can discipline himself or herself to tap into the world of shapeshifting.  Some are just more motivated than others.

So tell me.  Do you ever find yourself putting on a different face or saying just the right words to fit a situation?  Do you ever feel yourself becoming someone else for even a short time?  How many shapeshifters do you know?