I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change  ~Michael Jackson

This song will pump me up every time I hear it and I do believe it was the number one download following the death of Michael Jackson so I am pretty sure it is powerful to a large amount of people. The confusing thing here is that when we look at ourselves in a mirror, we pretty much see what we want to see. Asking the person in the mirror to change can become difficult because we don’t necessarily see any flaws.

But have no fear…we have other ways of seeing what we can change about ourselves.

It is called projection. Projection is a transfer of our unconscious behavior onto others so it appears to us that they actually exist in the other. We don’t like to see “negative” things about ourselves but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. By projecting them onto others, we give ourselves a way to see our perceived shortcomings. What we say to another is what we should be saying to ourselves. When we judge others, we are judging ourselves. The trick is to listen to what we say to the other and apply it to ourselves.

This is not an easy thing to do but when you do…WOW! You will suddenly see the gift that you gave to yourself. Our unconscious minds are so powerful and truly only working for our benefit, if we choose to see it that way. When we look at ourselves in the mirror of another, we are able to see ourselves. After all, we need mirrors to see ourselves. We are each other’s mirrors. Learn how this works and you will empower yourself by being able to see in another what you can’t see in yourself.

This actually works for both positive and negative aspects of ourselves. Anything that we deny or attempt to deny about ourselves will be reflected back to us through those around us.

However, I caution you to not get caught in the fun house of mirrors that others will attempt to get you to enter. Some people (knowingly or not) will bring you into these crazy rooms and try to convince you that what they project onto you is not themselves but yourself. Know yourself so you won’t fall for this trickery. Just like those fun house mirrors will try to convince a tall, slender person that they are short and fat. Don’t believe the lie.

So look in the mirror and ask that person to change and then see what you need to change by looking at what you are projecting onto others. It is pretty cool when you figure out how to do it. Experiment and have fun learning about yourself!