Just Lynn

One woman. One name. One hell of an attitude!

reflection

Written By: witchypo - Jun• 19•13

Years ago, a virtual stranger gave me a book so old and cheesy looking that all I could think was ‘why?!’ This month, when I finally gave it a shot, though, I discovered that the book, ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’, was written by plastic surgeon, Maxwell Maltz, who condensed what his career taught him of people, self image, and success, into this self-help guide to  ‘happiness’. Of course, I was miffed with myself for not having read it sooner, but suspect that I wouldn’t have ‘gotten it’ the same if I had.

When I read, for example, that Maltz believed an ‘unrealistic’ self image was what drove each and every one of his clients to seek his help, I’d normally have doubted such a ‘blanket statement’. Instead, I asked myself how realistic mine was, and was surprised when my mind showed me a page torn from a colouring book with a black and white line drawing of ‘me’, replete with ‘escaped convict’ hair, a ‘pig’ nose’, ‘tree trunk’ legs, and a host of other defects.

‘Is that, really, how I see myself?!’ I recoiled from the image, but knew without question that I’d been taught to identify with these defects just as early, and surely, as I’d been taught to colour.

I know because I caught my reflection in the mirror one night about a year ago and was genuinely surprised and confused by what I saw. The woman in the mirror, you see, looked far too good to have any connection to me.

‘She’ was perhaps 5 foot 7 or eight inches tall, looked to weigh about 120-130 pounds, and appeared to be in her mid 30’s.  She had shoulder length auburn hair that waived around an oval face, highlighted by full, bowed lips and bright blue eyes and wore a sleeveless black sheath dress that revealed strong, toned arms, a narrow waist, and flaring hips. In it, she looked as though she’d be as comfortable and confident on a red carpet as she was on a bath mat.

Of course, I knew that ‘she’ and I were one, but even as I accepted the unfiltered input from my eyes, my brain tried over-laying my reflection with the defects that supposedly defined ‘me’. It was then that I consciously realized how unrealistic and limiting my self image is, and when I became determined to learn to be habitually conscious of that fact.

Now, I’m glad I hung on to this book because I can’t, really, talk to anyone about this stuff but books like Psycho Cybernetics give me the chance to get advice from ‘experts’ like Maltz. I just wish I could thank the fellow who gave it to me because it seems he was right after all.

 

 

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.