My magic castle

My magic castle

Monday, November 15, 2010

More About Mirrors

My last post was about mirrors: learning from mirroring and reflecting. We also can learn to reduce trauma by using the concept of mirrors. If you need to desensitize from a trauma, or enable yourself to adapt to something new that is hard, you can imagine yourself seeing yourself in a mirror doing the new or hard behavior. If necessary you can add mirrors seeing mirrors until you find a comfort level. You can also break the behavior down into small parts, in the mirror seeing mirrors situation in order to face the fear. Suppose you are afraid of dogs. First you desensitize to something less than even a picture of a dog. Perhaps that would be the word dog. With enough distance from the trigger for the feeling of panic you can gain some comfort or feeling of safety. Then you step it up until you can see a dog in reality without panic. Another thing to consider is that some dangers cause a person to freeze and they are then unable to find safety. The mirror technique could let you realize that a danger exists and enable you to react in an appropriate manner when necessary. Truckers often think of how they would react to an emergency on the road ahead of time. Then if they face that emergency in reality their reflective practice has prepared them to deal with the situation as it comes up. Some say that television is a mirror of life. Without wisdom being applied to the lesson the watcher is poorly prepared for a real situation. Television programs are meant to entertain or drive up ratings. The programs do draw us in. But about the time we are really involved a commercial comes along and the mood is lost. Or it is too intense and we change channels. But if we would truly learn from Television we need to actually reflect of what has been presented to us. Discussion and contemplation are needed to fully benefit from what is seen on TV. Otherwise half-learnings will be picked up. Stereotypes abound in TV. Without stereotypes being accepted by the audience each story would take too long to set up and tell. If you are a parent it might be well to talk this over with your children. What they see is what they will absorb but it might be a silly mishmash of anti=magic and confusion. So help your children and friends become aware of what they see, and its possible impact, by gentle and wise discussion with them. The wise magician helps others see more clearly by reflecting for them. Be a mirror of clarity and wisdom for others and it will help you as well. May the spark be with you.

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