By Blair Souder
“Look around you. Look into the faces of everyone around you. They are all reflections of you.”
This beautiful statement was made as a woman stood and looked into the faces of 200 souls- who looked back at her and reflected the love and compassion she was feeling in that moment, amplified back to her 200 times. There was a palpable, unmistakable aura of unity and connection- an energy of which flowed through us all.
This statement is universally true for anyone, at any time. Look around you. What do you see? What you see is a reflection of you.
Outer experience is a reflection of inner reality. Another way to say this is that whatever thoughts or feelings we are having towards the world around us are a reflection of how we feel within ourselves, or about ourselves.
Can it be that simple? For a long time I didn’t think so. I resisted the idea that I am 100% responsible for the way I feel. What would happen if I stopped blaming everyone around me for the way I feel? What would happen if I stopped making people around me “wrong”, and judging them?
In short- a miracle.
It’s taken me a while. It takes courage for me to take responsibility for the way I feel- and even more to look within at the basic judgments and beliefs which are at the core of those feelings. And the healing- that is less an act of courage and more an act of acceptance, surrender and- in the end- Grace- as I release judgments and beliefs which were at the root of my own self-imposed suffering.
Now the world is a litmus test for me. And every test an opportunity.
My first litmus test in the morning are my dogs, as they invariably smother me with affection. Do I accept their love, see it within them, and within me, and love them back? Or do I get annoyed and push them away? If it’s the latter, I know I have some internal work to do. I go outside- take a deep breath- and reconnect.
My family then wakes up, and now I have my second litmus test. Morning isn’t the best moment for my teenagers. Regardless of how they are being- do I hold them in my loving and compassion- or- if they are more moody than usual- do I take it personally and feel something much less than compassionate towards them? In the past, taking my teenagers’ attitude towards me personally was, in fact, a deep rooted judgment- about myself. Often this did not bring out the best in me- because sometimes the hurt within us manifests as anger or frustration.
So my second litmus test- my family- is a wonderful opportunity to see if my being is clear of self-judgments or beliefs which result in the withholding of my loving energy. Can I hold my teens in loving compassion, regardless of how they are being?
Now that’s a test.
My third, and final litmus test of every day is when I venture outside into the world. How do I view the people around me? Am I annoyed by the lady in the check-out counter who is counting her hundreds of pennies to pay her bill? Am I judging someone who may not look or act in a way which, in the past, I thought was “normal” or “right”? When others have ideas or points of view which differ from my own, do I get angry, hold them in contempt, and sit indignantly in my righteousness? Does the slow driver in front of me piss me off?
If any of these are true (and I rarely go through a day without at least something irritating me)- I know I have something to work out- some underlying belief about myself or about the way the world “should be”- something to heal within me- to bring me into a life of greater peace.
The whole world is a reflection of me. That is such a blessing. If I can’t see the love, the miracle, in everything and everyone around me, then I am not seeing the love, and the miracle, in me.
When I finally release the limiting beliefs which obstruct the loving within me, I am finally free to see the loving in everyone else.
“Look around you. Look into the faces of everyone around you. They are all a reflection of you. ”
What do you see?
Blair Souder
Personal Guidance Counselor http://www.instrumentofyourpeace.com
Article Source: Seeing the World As a Reflection of Ourselves
