“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” -Les Brown
Steve Jobs sets the stage
Well before iPhones and Apple Watches, in January 1985, Steve Jobs appeared on stage before the annual Apple shareholders meeting to launch the Apple LaserWriter, the first ever desktop publishing system. Just one year earlier, Jobs had appeared on the same stage to launch the Apple Macintosh, “the computer for the rest of us.”
The Mac made it simple for folks to make a design and then print what they saw on the screen. This is called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get); meaning, “the image displayed on the computer screen is precisely what is printed onto a sheet of paper.” It is a commonly used computer term pronounced “wizzy-wig.” Prior to the Mac, computer users wrote in code, but the end result on the screen or paper would appear differently than what was input by the user.
I learned what WYSIWIG was in elementary school in the 80s. WYSIWG is still used today for web editing software. Although I’m certainly not a techie or coder, like most of us nowadays, I am fairly adept at using tech. This isn’t about computers though, it’s about you.
What you input into your CPU, your brain, is what you get. You put in self-loathing, that’s your output. You put in love, you get love. What you see IS what you get.
Who do you think you are?
In the prior Medium article, you were asked “who do you see in the mirror?”
What is your conception of yourself?
What are all these thoughts about yourself, others and the day that is starting?
They are all just thoughts, they are not reality. Yes, you may be replaying things that happened in the past. And those things did happen, yet they are just your perception of what happened and no one else is thinking them but you. It feels real and it is your real life, but it is simply your perception of life as it occurs to you and you are the only one thinking about it. Everyone else is having their own perceptions play over and over in their heads.
Our brains are on a perpetual loop replaying narratives about who we are.
“We see the world not as it is, but as we are,” mused Anaïs Nin
We typically do not see things as they are, instead we see them through our own perception. The same goes for how we see ourselves when we look in the mirror. You do not have to be who you think you are, you can be who you want to be. This is your choice. You can actually decide who you see in the mirror and what you get out of life. What you see is what you get.
As Plato said, “When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.” When you look at the mirror and have a thought about yourself, it is your mind talking to itself. Nothing more.
But what are you telling yourself?
Are you listening to old stories repeated?
Is your mind simply repeating mistakes you made?
Taking WYSIWIG a step further, what you see and what you think is what you get.
Four absurdly easy steps to start living the life of your dreams
You will get what you ask for, so stop asking for what you already have. Start a new narrative. Put love and happiness on a continual loop in your mind. Start the day seeing love in the mirror. Here are four absurdly easy steps start living the life of your dreams:
1. Wake up
2. Look yourself in the mirror
3. Say “I love you”
4. Repeat. Do this every day, day after day, year after year.
You already do steps 1 and 2, just add 3 and 4.
If it is this simple, takes no more than a few seconds each morning and costs nothing, then you can start today. This can have such a huge impact on your happiness and sets the stage for a great day regardless of what happens.
You deserve love, happiness and success. You can retrain your brain to see beyond the minutia of life, beyond the phone, email and social media feed, and beyond what you have been taught to believe since you were a baby. Take that action to see yourself with unconditional love and then build upon it to realize your greatest vision of yourself.
You may be saying, I get it, who I see in the mirror matters and what I see is what I get, so I should take action and say I love you in the mirror. But why love? Why not say “I’m awesome” or an affirmation like the Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley said, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggonit, people like me”?
Daily affirmations are awesome, but love is the foundation for life. Love is the essence of our being, the basis of our existence and the essential element for all other positive emotions.
When you establish love for yourself, you become more resilient and can more quickly bounce back from setbacks. Your good times are longer, and your bad times are shorter.
Love is Power
Life on earth as humans is not easy but the easiest way to face headwinds with strength and courage is to be filled with love despite constantly changing circumstances.
“Earthly life constantly flows between the banks of fortune and grief. One who loses courage won’t reach the aim.” ~ Mahaprabhuji
Being firm and unbothered by never ending challenges is much easier when you start every day seeing love in the mirror. You set yourself up to face challenges with strength, dignity and compassion. Standing strong in any condition comes from love. With love, you can conquer all fears and face all challenges.
Love is strength and your source of power.
Come on Ben, are you saying “Love is Power?” Yes, I am!
You may be thinking, okay I get seeing myself with love and compassion will help make me and others happy, but love is a positive emotion not strength and power. Really? Take Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi as examples of pure love exhibited to others and even more surprisingly to their enemies. Gandhi and Christ turned love into ultimate power stronger than any military.
Using data analytics, Time Magazine’s feature, Who’s Biggest? The 100 Most Significant Figures in History, showed that Jesus was the #1 most significant figure in human history and his message was one of love.
In the early 20th century, half naked and seemingly frail, guided luminously by love, Gandhi became the most powerful person in the world. Moving 300 million people to act in unison, Gandhi defeated the largest empire in human history without firing a single shot.
Have you ever tried to get 3 people to take any action, let alone 300 million?
In Gandhi’s words, “power based on love is a thousand time more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear.”
Love is your strength. Love is not just something to tell your beloved on Valentine’s Day or the fantastic feeling when you hold your kids tightly. The strength to endure challenges and return to better times comes from Love. Love is the cornerstone to build a strong foundation for your life.
Your bliss is waiting
Your life is yours to create and build. Change the way you see yourself and you will see what you have always known inside.
Give a MEGAPHONE TO THAT STILL SMALL VOICE FROM WITHIN! The voice that speaks to you about an amazing life, the voice that speaks about your personal and professional dreams, the voice that clamors for love and happiness. Your future self is waiting for you to see clearly.
Close your eyes, then reopen them and see the world differently. In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz powerfully suggests this:
Imagine that you have the ability to see the world with different eyes, whenever you choose.
Close your eyes now, and then open them and look outside.
What you will see is love coming out of the trees, love coming out of the sky, love coming out of the light. You will perceive love from everything around you. This is the state of bliss. You perceive love directly from everything, including yourself and other humans.
Using your imagination and your new eyes of perception, I want you to see yourself living a new life, a new dream, a life where you don’t need to justify your existence and you are free to be who you really are.
It seems too easy, but this truly works if you want it to. I now see love flowing from everyone and everything. Love is everywhere.
Challenges still come up and somedays, I don’t feel great. But I do quickly get back to the state of bliss and stay there longer each time. I wake up the next morning after a rough day and say “I love you” in the mirror.
With 5 kids and running a small business for 16 years, my days (and nights) are filled with many challenges, like an angry 2 or 13 year old. I am writing about love and being in a state of bliss, yet I am not always in that state. Now that I know this state though, I crave it and want to be in it constantly.
I live in the real world and sometimes it gets real real. Your real world is of your own creation. No one sees it but you. No one creates it but you.
I do not sit in the lotus position meditating by a lake and then see love in the mirror while butterflies flit around my head, although that sounds delightful. Even while living in the real world of regular obstacles and hostile people, seeing love in the mirror and living a life of bliss is easily within your reach.
Having realized this state of bliss regularly, I now see love everywhere. I walk into the gymnasium for my son’s game, and I observe love from all the people in the gym at once, which is amazing and at times overwhelming. I see the clerks at the grocery, and I feel their hearts filled with love and channel my love to them. They may not feel it, but I do and it is there for them if they choose to feel it.
You can walk outside and see darkness, or you can see the splendor of a star spangled sky. You choose what you see.
Ctl+Alt+Delete
If you truly want to be the person that the small voice from within begs for you to be, then start being that person today. Look at yourself with fresh eyes.
Reboot. Just hit the reset button. When your phone or computer isn’t running smoothly, you reboot, then it works properly. Reboot yourself. Shut it all down and start over. You might lose something you were working on, but you had too many windows open and you mind was filled with clutter.
Decide today who that person is you want to be when you reboot and start being that person today. See that person in the mirror. Start dressing like, acting like and living like the person you envision. From the moment your feet hit the floor, take the first step towards your future self. Then the next step and keep on stepping until you are running into your future.
As soon as you see love in the mirror, you get to choose who you see and what you get from life. What You See Is What You Get. WYSIWYG!
In the next article, we will Awake With Intention and get into practical habits to live your life of freedom and bliss now that you see the Light in the Mirror.
This is the second of a series of articles about how to live a life of happiness, bliss and success by seeing Light in the Mirror. The articles are excerpts from the book Light in the Mirror by @benparvey author, inspirational speaker and energy transition leader as CEO of BlueSky Power
