Looking Into The Mirror

Have you ever taken a moment to truly look at yourself in the mirror?    

In this article, I provide a how-to based on my experience with an exercise I did during an in-app retreat of the Waking Up meditation app that required looking into the mirror or the selfie view on my phone camera for 10 minutes.    

As you stand before the mirror, you may notice that the experience can be fraught with all sorts of emotions and judgments about yourself. This exercise isn't about avoiding or getting rid of negative thoughts about ourselves. For now, just watch them with curiosity and an open mind.    

And look at what you see as objectively as you can. Begin by taking in your forehead, nose, chin, cheeks, and eyes.    

Now continue to look yourself in the eyes as though you were looking into the eyes of another person. Allow any feelings to come and go without judgment, much like a guided meditation.    

You can move from fixating on just your eyes to making your gaze very wide, taking in the entire visual field with your face at the center.    

Notice how you feel like you are on your own side behind your face, looking across space at your reflection in the mirror.    

However, take a closer look, and you'll see that there is only one face appearing here, and it's the one in the mirror.    

But where is your face in reality?    

Look for the face you think you have.    

As you look for yourself, you may find only the expanse of color and light that populate your visual field.    

Notice the center of your point of view disappear, leaving only the world. If this doesn't seem helpful at first, try it again after you've experienced more guided meditations.

This practice can be very freeing, completely changing your point of view and giving you a new way to practice mindfulness.

As you continue to look at your own face in the mirror, notice how this is identical in visual terms to every social encounter you ever have. When you're looking at another person and they're looking back at you, you may feel as if you're hiding behind the mask of a face.

However, with practice, it is possible to fail to find yourself in a way that eliminates self-consciousness because there is no place from which to feel self-conscious.

There is just the experience of centerless totality.

In the presence of another, thoughts and emotions may still arise, but you may no longer feel you are hiding behind a mask. Actually, you may feel that you are just the space in which they appear.

And now your attention is free to really hear them and see them.

So the next time you have a spare moment, look into the mirror and discover that you are not who you think you are. You are much greater.