Mirror Behaviors

When you look into a mirror, what you see is actually the exact opposite of what other people see when they look at you.

I believe the way people look at themselves in the mirror, can tell you a lot about who they are.

How do you look at yourself in the mirror? What are your mirror behaviors?

Everyone has different mirror behaviors.

Most automatically stand erect and aggressively draw their stomachs into their bodies in one huge gasp of air.

Some shrug their shoulders up and forward and up, automatically turning to the side.

Some suck in, shoulders back, and tilt the head to the side as they examine their "oppos

ite selves" in the mirror. Some always turn to the side, some always turn to the side--extend one leg back and make a pouty face.

I've noticed my sisters suck in, tilt the head, and then let their arms fall to their side and flop back-and-forth, constantly hitting their thighs; as if hitting the sides of their thighs is going to make them appear smaller.

I always only look at one part of my body. My mid-section. I am satisfied with the way things look on top, and can guarantee my legs will look good in anything. Yet, when I am making an assessment in the mirror, be it clothing, athletic gear, self-worth--I always only glance from my waist to my mid thigh.

The way you stand in a mirror is hardly ever the way you stand in life. Working as a saleswoman at Banana Republic, I never once saw a woman standing in front of the mirror, legs shoulder width apart in a power stance, arms resting on hips--Wonder Woman style. Yet what we forget is that we are all Wonder Women once we step away from the mirror, in our own unique ways.

Looking in a mirror is a strange phenomenon. One in which, for a brief moment, you are a spectator of your own life. You are outside of yourself, now an audience member--only critiquing the external.

This afternoon I was shopping for a dresser and happened into a few old antique stores around the corner from my apartment. As I glanced in the ancient mirrors, murky with age and black speckled with forgotten images, I wondered how many women have looked at themselves in these mirrors. I'll admit I was admiring my hair and bright and vibrant face sans make up. I wondered how many different kinds of people have glanced, stared, smirked, sneered, loved in these mirrors. My first thought was how many women have looked at their "opposite selves" in the mirror and felt sufficient--felt powerful--felt beautiful--felt weak.

In the movie "Real Women Have Curves", our female protagonist stands naked in front of a mirror--w

ith her lover standing behind her, making him look at her, looking at herself, in the mirror.

I have forever thought this act of bravery would never be something I could do. Let a man, see you naked, and look at your "opposite self" the way you stare at your "opposite self" in derision every single day. When we are first instructed about our bodies, we are told to take a mirror and look at our vaginas. Not feel them, not touch them..just look at them.--through a mirror; a lens; a filter.

Who invented mirrors anyway? If it were up to me, I'd invent a mirror that would reflect what I felt on the inside, and the way that others saw me.

A sort of Mirror of Erosed for our muggle world.

I love my dad more than life, but he once said to me that, "mirrors don't lie". The phrase sticks with me each time I'm in front of the mirror, arguing whether or not mirror do or don't lie. Beautiful people look in the mirror and see beautiful exteriors--that often lie and cover up their perturbed souls and disdainful thoughts. We are taught to look in mirrors and see our value--not feel it, not touch it, not embrace it.

How often do you look into a mirror, and like what you see? Not just on the outside, but on the inside too?