The House of 1000 Mirrors

Posted by Phil Evans

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors.

What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

Footnote: As a person who lived a life surrounded by far too many ugly mirrors; and didn't understand what I refer to these days as The Mirror Principle; I hope that this brilliant little folk tale may help to create some "aha" moments for some people out there.

Personal Confession: When I was first told about it, about 10 years ago, it was the worst piece of information that I had ever been given! I did NOT want to know about it! No way! It was far too challenging for me; simply because what I saw in others quite often horrified me!

I didn't like what I saw: and being told that "what I see out there is simply a reflection of how I'm feeling inside", was one of my greatest personal challenges, and can sometimes be a necessary wake-up call for me if any feelings of judgment start creeping around.

Good point to remember: It is often these button-pushing episodes in our lives which are our greatest lessons, if we can actually step back from them and ask ourselves, "What is the lesson in this for me"?

Or; "What are the mirrors of life really telling me here"?