Mirror, Mirror- What Do You See?

Girl Before a Mirror- Pablo Picasso (1932)

“Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”, asked the Evil Queen in the Disney classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Recently, while browsing my Twitter feed, I came across a thought provoking tweet from one of my favorite follows. An image and message everyone should look at and fitting for the start of a new year.

Living in Los Angeles, California, a.k.a., “beauty” capital of the world, I have met and interacted with some the most beautiful people in the world. Not the beautiful many people in Los Angeles aspire towards, the beautiful I reference and admire are beautiful minds and souls. Fortunately, I have a choice to surround myself with people who don’t place a beautiful casing as primary importance in their everyday lives.

Again, living in Los Angeles for over thirty years, I have seen some of the most beautiful casings in the world. Driving, walking, hiking, and of course, running anywhere in the vicinity of the beautifully diverse city of Los Angeles and it’s surroundings means there will be gorgeous women and men walking and strutting their feathers. I’ve even engaged in conversation, small talk, and glances with “beautiful” everyday-folks and the ones with a desire for stardom on the small or big screen, catwalk, and pages of fashion and external beauty magazines.

Yes, several of these beautiful, everyday people and stars have a beautiful mind and heart to match. However, too many of those gorgeous casings, not so much. In fact, it’s the everyday beautifully masked people that disappoint the most. It’s understandable why some of the aspiring actresses, models, etc. would not be pleasant since they are in daily competition with other women for roles, etc., naturally, they developed a defense mechanism in competition.

From observations and research of wild animals, competition is a way of survival. The fight for nourishment, leader of the pack status, and reproduction are a must in the wild animal kingdom. The same was true in hunter-gatherer days. We are not far removed from our ancestors, competition for the prize, whatever that may signal for each person, can evoke thoughts and feelings leading to unattractive behaviors.

When looking at your reflection, what do you see? Do you like what is reflected back? If so, have you always liked your reflection? If you don’t like what you see (again, I don’t mean physical beauty), are you ok with your image? I believe, at some point or another, we all dislike what is reflected back, but it is at that moment when we have a choice to continue forward in our internal misery or make necessary changes to love what we see in our mirror.

Life is mostly beautiful, but we wouldn’t be able to experience the highs of life without feeling the lows, so don’t feel bad, discouraged ,or upset if, currently, you do not like your reflection. Our life experiences shape our current thoughts, feeling and actions. As children, we are mostly guided by our parents, guardians, and whoever is most important in our lives. However, as adults, we have the freedom to choose our own paths and actions.

If, currently, you dislike what you see in your mirror, reflect on what lead you to the dislike of your reflection. Writing it/them down helps. Next, write down what steps can be taken, today, to smooth out the rough terrain. Some of my biggest life decisions have been made by writing everything, dumping all thoughts, no filters. Only your eyes and senses are present, so go to town and purge everything cluttering your path towards self love. No need to take time writing in order. The goal is to spit it out as thoughts arise. Real and raw happens when we allow unfiltered thoughts to surface. Next, look at your list, what can be checked off immediately? Start there. Often, reading what is on our mind can be eye opening and cathartic. Baby steps, always, baby steps. Trying to run before learning to sit will make the journey unattainable, impossible, and miserable. Ultimately, leading to a quick turnaround to the old, familiar road.

The Evil Queen didn’t like the answer in her mirror. If today were your last day on our beautiful planet, Earth, would you be happy with the way you made yourself and others feel? In other words, what was reflected in your mirror.