A couple of weeks ago I read a blog post where the girl shared a suggestion that would (hopefully) help others to be less critical of their appearance.
(For the life of me I cannot remember which blog it was and I have searched endlessly and still can't find it. So if you know who it was, or if it was you, tell me so I can link it and give credit!)
She said that when you look in the mirror, look at yourself as if you're looking at a stranger. I read some of the comments and one girl mentioned that she knew she would be fooling herself so there's no way it would work. Some others mentioned that they had tried it and it completely changed their perspective of how they think they look.
So I tried it for the next couple of days. I generally don't like to let myself get critical of my appearance because I look how I look, and who cares if people are critical of that? But being honest, I am hard on myself a lot more than I would like to be. The first time I tried this I felt like I was having a particularly bad hair day, and lo and behold, when I took on that perspective and looked in the mirror, I was surprised at what I saw. (I hope this doesn't come across as conceited...) I didn't notice all of those little things that I am so typically critical of, and my hair suddenly didn't look as bad as I perceived it to be.
Fast forward to a few weeks later...
I had forgotten about the advice I read in the blog and the experience I had with it.
Today in church a member of the bishopric spoke about perspective. His advice was to look at ourselves and others as our Father in Heaven does. I realized that my little experiment about seeing myself as a stranger does was a step in the right direction, but it was purely physical. It was a way to boost my confidence regarding my physical appearance, which our society places so much emphasis on.
When I think about looking at myself as my Heavenly Father does, that's about my divine nature, my infinite worth, and who I am as a person, not who I appear to be on the outside. This can not only change how we feel about and view ourselves, but when applied to others, it can change everything.
Perspective is a powerful thing, especially when we apply it personally. Taking on the perspective of another person or of our Heavenly Father can allow us to have compassion, love, understanding, or just the opportunity to be a little less critical of ourselves or others.
So do yourself a favor, for me. Give yourself the opportunity to have a little more perspective. It's an amazing thing.
