Take every way you measure yourself and throw those calculations away. In this moment, they mean nothing. Take all of the things you have to do today and forget them. Your organizer and your date book have no purpose here.

Take all your possessions. The clothes, the cell phone, the computer, the furniture, the car...they bring no value now.

Finally, take all the people in your life and make them stand aside. The parents and the spouses, the children and the siblings, the friends and the strangers. Right now, they are not allowed to interfere.

And here you are. Just you, pure and unadulterated. Naked in every way. No one here to shield you from yourself, nothing to hide who you really are, no excuses to escape this vulnerability. You are left with yourself.

So what do you see? Do you see embarrassment at being so incredibly exposed? Do you see shame? How about exhilaration at losing all that baggage and being free just to be you? Do you see the person you are? The person you want to be? The person you used to be?

By myself, I see that I am an intelligent, worrying, compassionate, funny, confused, and longing individual. I see all my wants, both material and immaterial. I see my loneliness, so long the enemy of my happiness, and I see my happiness beginning to win against it. I see my fears. My fear of losing control, my fear of pain, my fear of uncertainty, my fear of vulnerability. I see my anger at past pains, my persistent depression, and my acceptance that these things are real and I cannot simply wish them away. I see my blush at being naked; I am somewhere between displeased and okay with the reflection in the mirror, but regardless of that, I have never been so exposed. I see disappointment in unfulfilled aspirations and worry that more lie in my future. I see hope of change for a better life. I see love for so many people in my life. I see someone who never really knew how to love herself, but so often tried to tell others to love themselves. I see desperate attempts to reach satisfaction and contentment, and how sometimes they succeeded and other times they failed. I see possibilities.

Now I turn the mirrors to you. At every angle there is something new to see and countless ways to interpret what is being seen.

Perception is reality, but reality is not always perception.