mirror monday: what do you see when you look in the mirror

Let's face it, we don't always like what we see when we look in the mirror. What meets our eyes as we glance at the mirror on the wall may only be the things that we dislike about ourselves. Sometimes we tend to focus on the things that we don't like, at least I do. The problem is, by focusing on the things we don't like we we miss seeing the whole picture and therefore have an inaccurate view of ourselves.

This past week my husband and I vacationed in Bend, Oregon. We love it there! While there we like to walk around downtown, do some window shopping and I always love to go into the little boutiques to do some clothing and home goods shopping as well.

One day we stepped into a particular boutique we visited in the summer. I grabbed a few items I thought I would try on and asked the sales women a few questions about the pieces I had picked out. The women, who I would say was about 20 years older then I and had a very motherly way about her, was very helpful and offered her assistance with any of the items once I had tried them on.

Behind the curtain of the dressing room I began to try the pieces on. By the time I got the second piece over my head, I was so frustrated. Nothing fit. Nothing looked good. It was all wrong. A million bad thoughts were running around in my head as I look at myself in the mirror - I felt defeated.

Somehow the sales women convinced me to let her help me with the items. I stepped hesitantly out from behind the curtain, into the store and over to a full length mirror. Mumbling words of disappointment about myself the sales women stopped me in an admonishing sort of way that I wasn't expecting. I'll never forget what happened next.

Standing in front of me she said, "Look at my eyes". I felt like I was in trouble and really just wanted to avoid her eyes. She said it again, "look at my eyes". I could tell I wasn't going to get away easy. I tried hard to look into her eyes, feeling uncomfortable and thinking to myself, "I just wanted to come in and try some clothes on!"

Standing in the middle of the boutique wearing nothing of my own, this total stranger, eyes locked on mine own said "Now I want to tell you something, this is important and you need to hear me. Your view of yourself affects how others respond to you". I didn't even know what to say. I hadn't asked for this, but somehow I knew this was something I needed to hear.

Nodding my head and trying hard not to sweat through the clothes on my body that weren't my own, I uttered the words, "I know". I knew, but rarely acted like I did. She repeated the words to me again and then as if that wasn't enough, she made me look into the mirror and said "now I want you to tell me what you like about yourself". I couldn't do it. Whether it was because I believed I would be conceited if I did, or I didn't like anything about myself, or both, I couldn't say anything.

This women wanted me to see the truth about myself as I looked in the mirror. I admit though, it was hard. I am a work in progress. Having a good self image is important and something that I need to work on. So, when I look in the mirror I am going to try to see the good things about myself, not the bad.

Sweater: Forever 21 | Skirt: Urban | Scarf: Gifted | Hat: Fabulous Finds | Clock Necklace: Faveur Boutique | Earrings, tights and boots : don't remember