MIRROR MIRROR

I can't avoid mirrors. My house is full of them. I wrote a post about this just the other day. I wrote loud and clear about mirrors in two of my books. I ought to follow and obey my own preaching ...

I have to say it one more time. Mirrors are for the young! To see who they are! To recognize, wonder, build a dream, picture themselves as a ... whatever... a princess, a prince, police chief, nurse ... whatever...

Put your kitten or puppy in front of mirror; they peer at it for a second or two -- not as long as little child perhaps -- you can sense that your pets see the image, wonder about it before they go on to more tangible things. (I find myself waiting for them to have fun, to play with the image.)

But sister, auntie, cousin, mother, wife, blogging Advice-Giver- Em is putting up a warning finger: Mirror mirror on the wall -- it's not your friend.

Around the age of sixteen, beware ... (Maybe a bit older --sixteen needs to observe the physical changes in one's face and body). When you stop growing in leaps and bounds around twenty, you better slow it down. Look at yourself perhaps once or twice a day before you go out, and check your outfit, make sure you're combed and clean. Because at twenty-five, you really ought to start breaking the habit.

Start counting; note how many times a day you're looking. Do you look in store windows you're passing on the street and see yourself, glassine, ghostly, transparent? Do it less. Ration it. Cut it down.

Mirror mirror on the wall -- it brings on the downfall of us all. (Rhyming makes it more fun to write about this.)

Thirty! That "happy birthday" is the right time to make a resolution. Use the mirror as a tool, for doing what you need to do to be presentable. Once done, it's done. You're done. Turn away.

You have to be vigilant So many things are telling us to see yourself, watch yourself, study yourself, squint, evaluate your prowess, your potential in love, commerce, career, sports -- all your prowesses may still be ascending, expanding, increasing but youth doesn't last forever.

Hey, I could be wrong. Take all the ages I've listed and add ten years to each one. And that'll help. But stop looking in the mirror. S - T - O - P. It's an obsession. It doesn't matter. It does not help you. It limits you. You are real. and what you see in the mirror is just an image.

What I'm saying is not just for females. It's a message to my guys, and everyone I know . "The privilege of mirrors belongs to the young." I wish I'd pay attention to what I preached on Page 666 and 698 in "Somebody." Bk II. And in "Karen of Troy," p.16, 38, 44, 95, 204. Track it down.

(Being a multinational family, I can say-- it ain't chopped liver, paté, grits, or pie with ice cream. It's basic, big deal Em Philosophy. So look it up on TheReadery and pay attention.

Try a day without a mirror. Go cold turkey.

It's a relief not to see, but just to be who you are.