What is Looking in the Mirror or Mirror Gazing?
Looking in the mirror or Mirror gazing is often associated with narcissism but it is an important part of self-growth as it helps us to learn to see our reflection hence boosting self-kindness and self-compassion, mindfulness, and better stress management. But have you been avoiding looking in the mirror?
Despite believing that looks don’t matter and being unaffected by appearances, do you end up, knowingly or unknowingly, avoiding mirror-gazing?
Mirror is the metaphor of reflections. Avoiding elongated looks in the mirror may keep you away from understanding deeper things about yourself.
Let us learn about the importance of looking in the mirror!
4 Reasons Why Is Looking in the Mirror Important
1. Meditation
There are various forms of meditation and it’s completely on you to jump into any of them. But in the end, meditation is all about increased self-awareness and practicing mindfulness. Looking in the mirror is one of the many forms of meditation.
“Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are more than our thoughts and our feelings.” — Arianna Huffington.
Instead of closing our eyes to focus, we see our reflections and try to get a better understanding of our deeper emotions. We can learn to stay in the present with ourselves, tap into new inner strengths, and manage the intensity of our emotions.
Do you want to learn other forms of meditation but don’t know the right method to do so? Check out the ultimate step-by-step beginners’ guide to meditation here.
2. Overcoming Self-Loathing
We can harbor mixed feelings for ourselves. We, unknowingly, tend to hate some aspects of ourselves and love some. But spending time seeing our reflection makes us witness all of those feelings in reality. We tend to compare ourselves with the unrealistic and discriminating standards set by society. These practices start to take a toll on our mental health.
“With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.” – The Dalai Lama
This practice of looking in the mirror neither aims at promoting narcissism nor inadequacy in appearance. It aims at making self-validations, the only validation you may ever need. Appreciating yourself. Seems a mere term but brings out miraculous changes in one.
It’s never too late to love yourself. Know more about ways to practice self-love here.
3. Boosting Self-Confidence
You may not have matched the bar you’ve set for yourself. Or Sometimes, we set the bar too high for ourselves at our workplace or in academics or relationships. There can be various reasons for it, but self-consciousness and lack of confidence are the two important reasons behind it.
Talking to yourself about things you feel insecure about and the ways it keeps on affecting you will boost your self-confidence.
Looking in the mirror and spending time with yourself can give you a sense of self-control and awareness. You may have been struggling with self-doubt but once you come to peace with your truth and reality, nothing can stop you from achieving anything you work hard for.
4. Deeper Sense of Emotional Awareness
Between endless deadlines and workload, it is obvious that people may overlook their deeper emotions. We may lose touch with our inner-self. This makes it difficult to understand what is bothering us or how we perceive ourselves. Looking in the mirror will help us build a deeply intimate and mindful connection with ourselves.
Taking a deeper look at ourselves can help us feel the overlooked thoughts we do not confront.
You may be fostering self-doubt and come across it while looking in the mirror. Be non-judgemental and calm. Regular reflection of thoughts and emotions of the self can help one manage anxiety.
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Talking about things you are bottling up while looking in the mirror or reflecting will help you gain a better understanding of your then-current situation.
You are never alone.
Looking in the mirror will help you a lot in reflecting upon yourself. Once you know the mental health issues or struggles you have been bottling up, reach out to your friends and family and talk about it. But there can be situations you are unable to do. It’s completely okay if you feel uncomfortable sharing it with your close friends or family but you are not alone.
It can be tiresome to fight your battles with anxiety and stress but GoodLives is here for you.
Reach out to us and seek help. We will not only map you to the right therapist who understands you and your mental health status but also provides you with a safe space to overcome your issues with the right methods suited for you.
Take the first step towards loving yourself, book a therapy session here.