Sometimes you look in the mirror and all you see is everything but yourself.
The figure standing before it then becomes a combination of parts,
And those parts are made up of stories that attempt to tell you who you are.
You get lost in the details,
Magnifying them,
Exposing them on the mental gallery that defines your life and defines you.
You are not alone in this.
We all get trapped in the gallery sometimes.
We say mirror mirror and expect to hear the truth,
But the mirror doesn't know what the truth is.
The mirror is an illusion.
We are not merely dust,
Flesh and bones.
In fact,
We are neither of those things.
But we use this body to experience the world.
We see through its eyes,
Listen through its ears,
Feel through its skin,
Love through its heart.
What a magnificent gift,
This vessel we use to walk on this earth.
Perhaps today you can't love how your body looks,
But you can love what it does for you,
How it keeps you alive,
One breath at a time.
I wonder if you can feel your body now,
If you can set aside those stories,
Those thoughts,
Those definitions,
And simply breathe.
Perhaps you can feel the energy that pulsates inside your body,
Feel this breathing,
Living combination of atoms that join together to shape you.
A breathing,
Living miracle,
Experiencing life on a planet that is,
In itself,
A miracle.
There is so much beauty to witness in this world.
Orange and pink sunsets,
A flower opening,
The currents setting the pace of the earth,
The smile of someone you love,
And the smile of someone you are yet to love.
That song that makes your body burst with joy.
The pain,
Yes,
Even the pain.
The pain that taught you what it is that you must value.
The pain that shows you care.
I wonder if you can feel gratitude for this body that contains you.
You have come this far.
You've navigated a sea of tribulations.
And despite everything,
Your heart is still beating.
Your whole body is singing the song of life.
Like the birds that roam the sky.
Like the trees that sway with the wind.
Like the galaxies that drift through space.
You are more than alive.
You are life.
Feel this truth.
Feel it inside your body.
Feel it on your skin.
This is who you really are.
We are not the stories of our past,
Nor the words they say about us,
Nor the flitting thoughts that cross our minds.
Our bodies are ever-changing,
But we are everlasting.
We are the entire universe in the shape of a human being.
This is the real beauty.
