Once upon a time a long, long time ago, the Earth was in the process of being created. It is said that God was up in heaven putting the finishing touches on the Earth, holding the “mirror of truth” in his hands. This was a mirror that held all the secrets to the Universe and could reflect whatever wisdom there was about life.
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But as God was admiring his work, the mirror slipped from his hand and fell toward the Earth. When it hit the Earth, the mirror shattered into millions of different pieces.
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The explosion sent these pieces scattering far and wide all throughout the Earth. As luck would have it, each piece bounced and fell to a different person, so that everyone ended up with their own little mirror of truth. From that day forward, each person had wisdom and knowledge that was all their own – their own little piece of truth that nobody else possessed.
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Of course, this is only a made-up story, like Pinocchio or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But like many other fables, it was thought up to teach us a very important lesson about life.
The lesson is this: Everyone has their own brain, filled with their own unique experiences. Each of us will accumulate our own knowledge and develop our own unique way of looking at things.
This means that every person has their own little mirror on the world, and each of us knows and feels things that nobody else does. Even when two people are looking at the very same thing, they can imagine it in completely different ways.
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One of the biggest problems in life is that people spend way too much time trying to make others see things THEIR WAY, rather than taking the time to find out how others view the world. It’s like they’re stuck inside their own little piece of truth, thinking that this little mirror of theirs shows all there is to know about the world. They stare into this reflection so long that they never get a chance to explore other ways of thinking or being.
It’s much better to remember that our own mirror is limited, and only shows a tiny piece of the bigger picture. Thus we should always try to get a peek at the ideas and perspectives that other people hold in their mirrors.
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Our task in life is not to go around trying to prove our own mirror is correct . . . Each of our mirrorsl have their own bit of truth. Our challenge is to seek out as many mirrors as possible, so that we can understand what other people see. It’s when we put our mirrors together that the bigger picture starts to reveals itself.
When others say or do things that you wouldn’t think or do, rather than getting upset, try to figure out what resides in the mirror they are looking through. We should say to ourselves, “How interesting . . . I wonder what makes them see things this way?”
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Only when we broaden the horizons of our mind can we take in a fuller view of the world. This means keeping your mind open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things.
Which would YOU rather be: someone who’s stuck staring at the exact same image your whole life? Or an adventurous explorer who is always seeking to broaden his horizon? When we search out other thoughts and take in different perspectives, it’s like we’re mental explorers, gathering in as many new views as possible.
So as you wake up each morning, remind yourself of one thing: There are many many mirrors of truth out there, and each one has something valuable to teach us!
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The end!
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