How others see us.

I recently discovered that someone I'd always thought of as a light hearted soul, did in fact take himself very seriously indeed. He did not cope well when he discovered how others viewed him.  It really knocked him sideways.  Robert Burns wrote in his poem, "To a louse",  "O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us."  Maybe though it's not always good to get that insight, especially when it's a mile away from the way we feel about ourselves.  Is there always a bit inside that we don't find so easy to share with the world? A secret, unspoken love of country music, an ability to keep a smile on our face even on the days when our heart is heavy with grief.  I do relentlessly rabbit on to clients about the importance of authenticity, and I still stand by the importance of it as a vital factor to maintaining health.  When we are authentic and we practise letting the inside feelings be expressed on the outside, there will be less incongruities between how we are perceived by others and the reality of who we are and how we're actually doing at that particular moment. Enjoy learning to share with others all the aspects that make you who you are!
"To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves." - Aldous Huxley.