The Woman in the Mirror

Have you ever stopped to think about mirrors... and all the crazy stories about mirrors? Mirrors are thought to be the doorway to the soul. By looking in a mirror we are able to see our true selves. Some cultures believe mirrors hold mystical powers. Even fairy tales speak of the power mirrors have to reveal truths. And shoud an unfortunate soul break a mirror, look out!. Romans believed that if you broke a mirror you would have 7 years of bad luck because a broken mirror meant a broken soul, and it would take 7 years to restore your soul. Fortunately for the Romans, if they were able to find all the pieces of the mirror and buried them they could undo their bad luck. Others believed that if grind pieces of the broken mirror you could counteract the jinx. Still others claim the only way to rid oneself of bad luck from the broken mirror was to tap the piece on a gravestone.

Jews will cover their mirrors during times of mourning. Some cultures won't hang a mirror in a baby's room for fear that something bad will happen to the child. And there is even an old wives tale that says a woman can see her future husband if she sits in front of a mirror eating an apple before brushing her hair.

I know some of these things are crazy right? But whether you believe in some or all or none, the fact remains that for many of us, mirrors can be something we avoid. I hate those 360 mirrors in dressing rooms, as long as I don't have to see how wide my backside has gotten, I can pretend it still looks like it did 20 years ago... Showing me isn't going to make me want to buy those clothes- it's going to make me want to go on a starvation diet! And whomever invented a magnifying mirror must have been young, no woman wants to look that closely at her wrinkles!

I hate mirrors, looking in them always turns into some type of critical self evaluation. 

From bad hair days, too much gray, things too tight, saggy, baggy, lumpy, bumpy, old... you get the idea. I don't think its just me, because I have seen lots of woman pass a mirror only to pause, look, make a face that at best can be described as a grimance, and walk on wishing they never gazed in the mirror in the first place. So what is about that reflection, why is it that when I look at the woman in the mirror I see all the things I'd like to change? 

I sometimes think I'd be better off not looking, or perhaps I should take the man in my life's advice and "get a new mirror". I wonder, what would I see if I got a new  mirror? Would I see the beautiful strong woman he sees? Would I see a woman that isn't afraid to start new thingsno matter how old she is? would I see a woman that is intelligent, capable, passionate, and determined to make a difference? I do know, thay is the type of woman that I want to see in the mirror, and that woman is me. Perhaps it is time to get a  new mirror, or at least look at myself differently in my old mirror... bad hair days and all!

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