How many different faces do you have? Or feet, for that matter. Do you always put your best one forward? If you think of yourself as a gem, how many facets do you present to the world?

Think about someone you know quite well. Now imagine how many different ways they appear to you, depending on time, day, place, mood, or setting?

Now think of someone whom you see quite often, but that you are barely acquainted with. There may be some variation, but chances are their appearance or general presentation is somewhat similar from time to time.

Why is that? What’s going on here? You might say that our public countenance is the one we practice the most since we show it off to the outside world. Which makes sense. When we are at our most guarded, we have a default setting that is prepared for anything.

When you’re around people that you know better, you tend to open up more. When you’re close to someone you see them in many more different lights than they present to strangers in the outside world.

That’s why things like ecstasy, elation, anger, or grief are so revealing. They show different sides of you that round out your personality.

So here’s the question. If other people see all different sides of you, but you only see what you’re in the habit of seeing from the inside looking out, wouldn’t it make sense to try to get a glimpse of those other hidden perspectives that you miss in the mirror?

If so, wouldn’t you want to learn how to come to terms with them and embrace them and accept yourself from every angle?

It’s one thing to be OK with your being from the inside-looking-out, but what more can we gain by turning that around and taking a look at ourselves from the outside-looking-in once in a while?

It’s one thing to see yourself the way you see yourself, and be OK with that. It’s quite another to see yourself the way everyone else sees you and to be good with that as well.

Being concerned with what others might think about you is a waste of time, but getting acquainted with yourself from a novel perspective builds character from the inside out.

If life can be summed up as dance of opposites in balance like the proverbial yin-yang, learning how to appreciate all sides of your cosmic wheel helps keep it turning in harmony 😉

Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine