The Story of the man who faced his Monster and unelashed the Man within.

The man looked into the mirror and didn’t see himself – he only saw a monster, a cheat and a waste of space – he only felt disgust as he saw himself, avoiding his gaze from inside the mirror.

And yet, he knew that wasn’t how his close friends saw him. You know, the friends who saw past his shunning tactics. The real friends. You see, they saw him for the good, kind, thoughtful and mostly inspiring human being that he really was. They saw his compassion, his love of God and mankind and his commitment for making a difference to whoever came his way.

But every now and then, he was like a beast with a horn. He tore all those who reached out for him. In his mind, he was trying to protect them from the monster he thought he really was.

Because he thought he was really a monster, he thought he didn’t deserve anything. That’s why, time and time again in his life, when victory was in his hands, he would stuff it up, waste it away and generally avoid any form of success or gain in his life. 

To his friends, it was like he didn’t care for the good things in life like security, comfort or fulfilment. He thought because he didn’t deserve it, that it should go to someone else, more deserving. He was passed over for promotion, he lost or donated money to all the wrong causes, he consistently put himself in a position of disadvantage.

Not only that, he put his family in that position as well. All the sweetness was being drained from his relationship with his wife as he went about “protecting” her from the monster that he really was in his own mind.

 But one day something happened that would change his life forever.

It was just like any normal morning. He got up from bed before his wife and went to the bathroom.

For some reason, he would never know why, he made eye contact with the man in the mirror.

“I’ve been waiting for you to do that for a long time.” Said the man in the mirror.

He drew back – stunned: “W-w-ho are you? W-w-what are you doing?” he cried out.

“I’m who you really are – I reflect back to you every day who you are, but you are never interested. You only look at me to shave your face, comb your hair or simply make yourself look presentable. You never look at me to see how you are going!”

“That’s great – now if you don’t mind, I’m getting out of here!” he said angrily, turning to leave.

“Wait!” the man in the mirror commanded. “Don’t you want to know what I have to tell you?”

He half turned saying “This is not natural – this is freaky – what would people think if I started talking to you anyway?”

“But that’s what’s so special about this conversation – you see, it doesn’t matter what people think when there’s just you and me – that way you can just be yourself – and you don’t get to be that often do you?” said the man in the mirror pleading with his eyes for the man to stay.

“Okay” the man said. “But only if I can shut & lock the door”

“Done!” said the man in the mirror – “lets get this talk happening!”

“You see,” he said as the man came back and faced the mirror for the first time, “Every time you look at me, all you ever see is a monster – someone you have to protect people from, someone you don’t trust, don’t like and don’t want anyone else to know about – Your monster is your dirty little secret.”

The man looked down. “You are right.” he said, “I am a monster and I don’t want anyone to get hurt by me.”

“Yes, you do know that don’t you” said the man in the mirror. “And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about.”

“You see, you have felt like this for much of your life. You have carried it around with you like a burden and you have pushed your friends and your success away from yourself, feeling like you deserved neither love nor success. When did this start for you?” the man in the mirror asked caringly.

“It was a long time ago, I was a little boy at school, the teachers were bad to me, they treated me like I was worthless, they knew I could succeed, but they thought they had to be hard on me. I made a vow to myself that I would show them. I would make my life a failure and blame them for it. I was so angry and frustrated by them. I believed them that I was worthless and I started to feel like a monster. I think one of them even called me a little monster.” He related, tears welling up in his eyes and with lips quivering he cried out: “It just wasn’t fair!”

The man in the mirror listened carefully and allowed the man to express his tears and emotion before he spoke again.

“You are not a monster, you never have been one. You only think you are a monster because you made a decision when you were a little boy. And that decision has influenced your life from then right up to now. And it will continue to shape your life if you don’t take charge and responsibility for how you think about yourself.”

He continued. “You don’t have to see yourself as a monster. You are in charge of how you see yourself. You have successfully chosen to see yourself as a monster for all of your life – you can easily choose something else to see yourself as. Why not see yourself as a Hero – making a difference to people, enriching their lives. You could even see yourself as a good person, doing good, thinking good and making good things happen. It’s up to you.”

The man was thinking. “So you are saying, that I can say who I am…and that that in itself can help me be that way?” he asked.

“Exactly – you are catching on quick! But seriously, how do you want to be in your life?” the man in the mirror asked.

 

“Well, I like what you said about being a contribution to everyone, enriching their lives..” he said “..and I really want to be God’s representative on earth, bringing people closer to their true purpose here.”

“Well said!” the man in the mirror exclaimed “- and what else do you want?”

“I want to be a loving and fun husband for my wife and a happy and fulfilled father of my children..”

“Go on!”

“I want to be a success at my work, be a great and supportive friend and I want to be there for my family.”

“Fantastic! And I’m here to help you do that!” said the man in the mirror.

“How can you help me?” demanded the man.

“All you have to do is tune into me – look at me and look for how you are going. Look at how you are feeling. Look at whether you are inspired by your life ….or disinterested in what’s going on. You will see it if you look for it. And you can count on me to remind you when you start going on about you being a monster and all that other nonsense! I’ll help you! Just look in the mirror every day and acknowledge yourself. You can even talk to me and listen for an answer – simply keep eye contact throughout the process.”

“…and by the way, this doesn’t have to be hard. It’s really easy in fact. You don’t have to strive to be what you want to be. All you have to do is let go of the things that are stopping you being that. Look in the mirror every day and take your handbrake off. Simple.”

“Well thank you for this!” said the man, looking lighter and even a bit taller since the conversation. “What can I do for you?” he said, looking for a catch.

“All I’m asking is for you to reach out and be who you really are – that will be my reward.” Said the man in the mirror. “You are who you think you are….”

There was a knock on the door and it was time to go.

“Thank you!” said the man before he opened the door to his new life.

“Who were you talking to?” asked his wife looking around the room.

“Just talking to myself for a change!” he smiled, knowing everything had changed forever since he listened to the man in the mirror.

 This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...