Looking in the Mirror

by Faye
(Canada)

I began doing this mirror exercise sometime in my twenties. I had read a book that suggested it.

Here’s how it goes..

Every morning when you’re in the bathroom, in front of the mirror…

Look deeply into your own eyes, smile, and say, “I love you, your name!”

Go try it now… we’ll wait…

So, what happened?

The first time I did it and many times afterward, I not only didn’t believe it - I knew it wasn’t true.

What happened was … every time I did it, I thought of all the reasons why I didn’t love myself.

That’s what you heard, right?

And for days afterwards, every time I did it I knew I was lying. But I genuinely wanted to love myself so I kept doing it. I did it until it was a habit. I did it and stopped listening to the voice that told me all the reasons it wasn’t true.

I did it because someone I respected, told me to do it. They told me it would work.

Years later, there was a defining moment, a moment when I did look in the mirror, to say it, and I realized that it was true.

The funny thing was I was now heavier, wrinklier, far less youthful and probably far less “desirable looking”.

But I was more accepting of myself, more aware of who I was as a person, more comfortable with myself, and I not only loved myself, as I was, I also liked many things about myself as a person.

That simple exercise called to me what I asked for, and it gave me a far greater gift than a perfect nose, or a full bank account.

It gave me a best-friend who was always there.

About two years ago, I was watching Oprah and she had one of my favorite authors on, Louise Hay. Louise Hay mentioned this exercise and I remembered that I had read it in her book, You Can Heal Your Life. Check it out, it’s not the only lesson I learned from that book!

This exercise takes less than thirty seconds a day and it brings such awesome returns. It’s probably better if you don’t do it when your mouth is full of toothpaste, though.