When You Look In The Mirror, What Do You See?

As I sit pondering some recent things I have read and seen, it has caused my mind to really become contemplative as to what shapes a person's view of themselves. It is disheartening to say the least, how poorly people view themselves. I have heard some of the most beautiful people in the world pick themselves apart as though they were a scientific experiment gone wrong.

When I listen to the berating and degrading things that these people say about themselves, I have to raise the question "what kind of mirror are they looking in?" They must be looking in a mirror that distorts their view like a funhouse mirror. The real issue is that they aren't looking at themselves objectively, it's subjectively. At some time in their lives someone told them that they weren't handsome, or beautiful, or they were too fat, or too skinny or just not good enough period.

The bad part is they believed the lie. It probably was in their early childhood when your self esteem is at its most vulnerable that the foundation for the poor self image was laid. Words are powerful and they can build you up or tear you down depending on how they are used. At one point in my own life I had the same struggle of believing someone else's opinion of me instead of the truth. I had to break free of the shackles of low self esteem and low self worth. When I fell in love with me, all of me my life truly changed.

I have never been a part of the skinny girls club so being the one that was always in the spotlight or the one that boys would love to date wasn't my story. I was the brainiac, pleasing plump girl that all the boys wanted to cheat off of my papers but never date. Fast forward several years and I am still the brainiac voluptuous woman that men can't figure out and want terribly to be in my presence. The difference now is that I don't desire to be a part of the skinny girls club like I did for several years of my life in my youth. I am now a threat to the skinny girls because I have self esteem that is as massive as the galaxy. Self love permeates from my inside out.

I am not conceited, however I am convinced that I am fearfull and wonderfully made in the image of my creator. That I am truly accepted in the beloved and no person on earth can make be feel like I am less than what I know I am. My heart's desire is to pass the lesson of self acceptance on to others. Poor self image doesn't discriminate it affects the celebrity and the unknown alike. Someone that has truly grasped the lesson of accepting the image that she sees in the mirror is the actress Gabourey Siddibe that has a starring role in the movie "Precious." I haven't seen the movie yet, but I have had the opportunity to see her in several interviews. This full-figured young woman is truly a breath of fresh air.

She hasn't allowed what the world defines as beauty to define her. She is well aware of her rotund size, but nevertheless that hasn't caused her to hate or loathe herself. I recently had the opportunity to see her in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and when Ms. Winfrey posed the weight question to her the response she gave spoke volumes. Gabby as she is affectionately called, said she had struggled with her weight all of her life and that she had been dieting since as early as age 6 and at one point one day in her early twenties she just decided to be happy with herself. When you see her you see the reflection of positive enery radiating from her being. She keeps a smile on her face and youthfulness in her heart. I truly hope she keeps that part of her.

So my desire is that all that still have the scars of ridicule or verbal and mental abuse would find a place of wholeness and acceptance for themselves that would allow them to look in the mirror and see the truly beautiful person that they are.