Just as relationships can be our greatest teachers by bringing out the best and worst in us; our lives are reflections of our inner worlds and can show us hidden parts of us that we need to work on.

In Shakti Gawain’s classic, Living in the Light, she explains:

We’re creating our lives as we go along; therefore, our experiences give us an ongoing reflection of ourselves. In fact, the external world is like a giant mirror that reflects our consciousness clearly and accurately.

Shakti Gawain, Living in the Light

I love the notion that “we’re creating our lives as we go along“, rather than we’re at the mercy of whatever life wants to do to us. When you think about it, we actually are creating our lives with each choice we make. What power and freedom that realization holds.

The World is Our Mirror

When we understand that everything in our lives (careers, relationships, home life, and so on) is a reflection of our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, our outer world can show us what we should appreciate about ourselves and what we still need to work on.

Shakti teaches that this concept is based on two principles:

1. Everything in our lives is our creation. There are no mistakes in the universe. Anything that has an impact on us has been created to show us something. Every person in our lives is mirroring an aspect of ourselves back to us.
2. There is no guilt or shame in the reflections we see. Everything is a gift to bring us to self-awareness.

Problems are Messages

What is the relative that we just can’t get along with mirroring to us? Are they mirroring an egoic trait (jealousy, resentment, the need to be right, etc.) within us that we’re not aware of? Could it be that person is reminding us to practice compassion towards all beings?

What is the toxic work situation trying to tell us? Are we in a career unsuited for us or striving for empty goals: money, status, a title? Or, are we gripped by the fear of scarcity and unwilling to look inside and find our true creative talents?

Once we closely look at our problems and ask the Universe what lesson it’s trying to show us, we can begin to interpret the reflection.

Interpreting the Reflection

When we become aware that our problems are lessons, we have the opportunity to find out what they’re showing us about ourselves.

• If we feel judged by others, we may be judging someone else or ourselves
• When someone is lying to us, there may be a way we are lying to ourselves
• If we feel others are being irresponsible, we may be irresponsible in work, taking care of ourselves, or making a tough decision
• If we feel others aren’t listening to us, we may not be listening to them or our inner Self

There are mirrors everywhere. Whoever you have a connection with is a mirror for you, and the deeper the connection, the stronger the mirror.

Shakti Gawain

For example, I have an acquaintance that lives in negativity. Our conversations are centered around him, his needs, and how horrible and unfair the world is. When I’m around him I feel drained of energy.

When I went inside and really looked at why this man evoked such a strong emotional trigger in me, I saw what I was lacking — compassion. Compassion is not pity. Feeling sorry for someone is just another form of ego. Compassion is relating deeply and genuinely to someone else’s pain. And I could relate to his pain. I’ve lived it. I know how it feels to be disconnected from something greater and look at the world through the lens of negativity.

This man was mirroring a past version of myself that I related to and was reminding me to have compassion for all beings.

The people we love and respect are also our mirrors. We wouldn’t be able to recognize the traits we admire in them if those same qualities were not also in us.

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