Do you know this person?

We spend our lives looking for friendship, love, and belonging, and if we are born under a lucky star, we’ll have at least a few true friends, a strong bond with our partner and family, and a harmonious relationship with the people around us. Yet, life very often meets our paths and then suddenly separates them, and it happens even with the people closest to us.

But there is one person who is always with us – since the moment we were born until our last breath (no, it’s not called Mom).

And our relationship with this person is more important than any other because he can be either our best friend or our greatest enemy.

Do you know him? The man in the mirror.

Probably 101% of those reading this right now will say – “Of course I know him! Since I know his favorite color is blue, his favorite food is pancakes, and his forbidden pleasure is eating tons of candies. Also, as a child, he dreamed of becoming a Power Ranger, and now he wants to be his own boss. His biggest dream is to travel around the world, although his secret biggest dream is to lie in bed all day with a bowl of ice cream and watch TV shows!”

And even though we know his personality, as well as his tastes, fears, and dreams, better than anyone else who has ever walked this earth, do we really know the man in the reflection?

Most often, we know the part of him decorated with all labels that we or someone else has attached, and we have willingly agreed to wear and call “I” – or in other words – our Ego.

Tags like – “beautiful” / “ugly”, “funny” / “boring”, “successful” / “failure”, “eccentric” / “ordinary”, as well as various roles, in which we have chosen to express ourselves – “professional”, “parent”, “romantic”, “adventurer”, “rebel”, “victim”…

Meanwhile, deep down in the closet of our consciousness, we have pushed away all those things that we don’t want or don’t know we can also be. And paradoxically, this is where our greatest treasure sits- an ocean of untapped potential. And even more paradoxical is that the same space also holds the key to the treasure – our fears.

And the person in the reflection would gladly tell us all this – sadly, we very rarely ask him, and even if we do, we do not trust him even half as much as we trust the skeptics around us.

And shouldn’t he be our most trusted friend?

Yes, but still, this person is the one who embarrassed us in the important presentation at work last month and the one who starts to stutter in important meetings every time. It also makes us feel a little uncomfortable every time in his awkwardness, and let’s face it – his dancing skills are not the best at all … Furthermore, this man keeps postponing making our dreams come true.

Why does he keep sabotaging us so persistently?

Maybe it’s because we’re not a good friend to him?

• Do you support him, or do you judge him more often?
• Do you praise him for his achievements, or do you just expect them from him?
• Do you take care of him, or do you put your children, partner, family, boss, customers first?
• Do you trust him, or do you prefer to listen to the advice of “distinguished mentors”?
• Do you talk with him openly about his fears and dreams, or do you remind him what he should be or not be?

Maybe it’s time to talk openly with the man in the mirror? You will be surprised by what the person in the reflection has to say to you …