Krista found the card propped against her front door. It had her name on it. She sat in her favorite chair and opened it. There was no signature or note, no sign of who it was from. On the front of the card was a small mirror framed as a portrait. When she opened the card, the inside was entirely filled with a painting of a woman sitting in her favorite chair holding the same card. As far as she could see or imagine, each mirror opened to a woman sitting in her favorite chair opening a mirror only to find another woman doing the same.
At first, she chuckled, but it quickly became somewhat unnerving. What could this mean? She stared into the lineage of women looking beyond themselves in order to see others doing the same.
Krista placed the card next to her alarm and during the night, she dreamt of the endless path of women looking beyond themselves. She tried to talk to the woman just ahead of her, who finally turned her head and said, “I am you and you are me. It’s that simple.”
The next day, Krista had coffee with her former husband Ben. She felt funny talking about the card directly and so, started their conversation by asking, “Do you think we are all at heart the same?” Ben didn’t easily dive into these waters, which is one of the reasons they eventually went their separate ways. It was clear to Krista that Ben hadn’t opened his mirror yet.
From that day on, Krista looked for companions who had opened their mirrors. She yearned for conversation with those who had discovered the lineage in which I am you and you are me.
Isn’t this the journey we all face, if we keep growing? Isn’t our endless challenge to stay committed beyond all that is necessary to see ourselves, so we can find the common heart we share with others? I think much of our struggle with despair comes from getting stuck in the mirror. I think social media is one huge mirror that much of our society is stuck in. Often, we seek out partners and friends with an urgency because we deeply ache to be mirrored. But, in time, if blessed, the hard climb of living causes us to truly know ourselves and we can put down all mirrors, as we begin to feel the tug of true kinship.
~Mark Nepo
when I lean into possibility…
inquiry for today~ there is room for both/and…
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
~Joseph Campbell
