Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see a parent, a friend, a love, a helper, a giver, a receiver? Or do you see a failure, one who misses opportunities, one who is often not at their best? Of course all of these things and more are true but which will you choose to see today?
Very few people know this but I hate to look in the mirror. It’s funny how much of life you can do without doing so. What I see there is never quite what I want to see and so I tend to avoid it. I feel the same way about the little window on the video conference that shows me. That’s a lot harder to avoid seeing but I can avoid paying attention to it.
But I do think I’ve gotten better at self-perception. I see all of those things above and more at times. I also think they are not mutually exclusive and more than one is true at a time. Perhaps the lesson I still have to learn is in the last line. I’m many things in every moment and trying to just see one is not being true to who I am.
As you read this I wonder:
Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
How do you see more of you and not overly focus on one element?
Who can you go to when you need to refocus your perception? When was the last time you had the conversation?
We don’t think a lot about what we perceive, we just do. And perception shapes everything, our feeling, our thinking, our actions. And so, as you start the week, can you perceive more broadly, not to see yourself as better but to see more of the total picture?
