If you put truth in front of a mirror, is what you see in the mirror still true?
Here’s my thought:
The photos below are two versions of my headshot. The left one is the original, and the right one is the mirror image of the original. Not sure what you feel; the mirrored photo looks weird to me, even though my features remain the same. Look closely, you’ll realize it is my facial asymmetry that leads to the weird reflection.
In an article titled Why Selfies Sometimes Look Weird to Their Subjects, Nolan Feeney explained that “Don’t blame your face. Blame your brain instead. Selfies sometimes look strange to their subjects because of how we see ourselves in the mirror, how we perceive our own attractiveness, and the technical details of how we take them on camera phones.”
Aesthetics aside, our fixation on mirror reflections shapes how we perceive ourselves. Whenever things happen to us, good and bad, we etch them deeper into the lines and curves of those perceptions.
We believe what we see is who we are. Is the image we see our true self?
Refer to my headshots above if you have to. What we see in the mirror is the reverse of who we are, while our photos are how others see us.
Since we’re talking about mirror images, how about mirrored experiences? Consider this quote:
“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
Read it a few more times and let the meaning sink in. The underlining message is a bad thing can turn into a good thing (reversed) if you put that bad experience into good use. Plenty of bad things happened during the last year. How many of them have you turned into wisdom?
Now, try this one:
“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity, and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”
The next time you peer into a mirror, think about the things you once believed true that are wrong. Thanks for reading.
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