“Mirror mirror on the wall” is a phrase from a fairy tale popularized by the 1937 animated Walt Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In the fairy tale, the mirror is used by the wicked and vain queen to validate her own beauty.

All is well so long as the mirror replies “My queen, you are the fairest in the land.”

However, when the talking mirror begins to respond with a different message — that there is someone more beautiful than she — the queen becomes filled with envy and hatred towards the young Snow White. It is not long before her hatred has grown to murderous proportions.

This is just a fairy tale. There is no “magic mirror” that talks back to us when we talk to it.

That being said,
this is also a beautiful example about
how we can use a mirror
to work magic in our own lives.

 

We can use a mirror for good or ill. Just like the queen, we can use the mirror to affirm ourselves. We can also be like the queen and use the mirror to destroy ourselves.

 

What do I mean?

Think of how we use a mirror. We use a mirror to reflect back to us our own image.

We often talk to the mirror too.

But what if we talked to the mirror on purpose!

 

This is not a far fetched idea.

It is a technique that was described in a book written in 1948 by Claude Bristol, The Magic of Believing (Dover Empower Your Life)

It was also written about in a book by Jack Canfield published in 2004, The Success Principles(TM)

It is called The Mirror Technique.

Simply stated, you stand in front of a mirror, ideally one in which you can see your face and torso.

You look at your image square in the eye. You then speak to your image.

Try telling your image “I love you.”

If you have never consciously done this before, you may well flinch. Keep at it.

The neat thing is, you can use this technique to strengthen yourself any time you need to.

• If you have a challenging conversation coming up, practice in front of the mirror.

• If you have a job interview coming up, affirm yourself in front of the mirror.

 

This is a very powerful technique.

A word of warning though — it can work in the negative just as powerfully as in the positive.

If you condemn your image, or if you criticize your image, you are destroying yourself.

For this technique to work in positive ways,  you must choose to tell yourself positive affirming messages.

Please share your experience by leaving a comment below!