In a 2017 episode of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday (1), she featured an experiment on self-perception conducted by BuzzFeed. A group of volunteers each stood for a few minutes in front of a two-way mirror sharing their perceptions of themselves while other volunteers secretly hidden behind the mirror were taped sharing how they perceived that person. Then, the participants were shown their particular video with the other volunteers’ comments. Time and again, those features which the participants disliked or doubted about themselves were the ones that others found particularly striking or beautiful.
One volunteer shared that he was self-conscious of his round face, especially his cheeks, yet his nice cheek bones was one of the features that the secret observers said they liked. Another admitted that he didn’t feel particularly manly, yet one observer saw him as definitely masculine and another as a “cool guy”. One volunteer said that she was self-conscious of her dimples, yet one of the observers commented that he really liked her smile, especially her “cute dimples”.
Upon seeing the strangers’ comments about themselves, many of the participants were blown away by the differences between their self-perceptions and the impressions of others. One participant said, “You’re better than who you think you are. And… you’re enough just the way you are. So be kinder to yourself.” This could be a message directly from each person’s Soul.
Marsha Hankins has twice posted a wonderful blog called The Parable of the Cracked Pot about the beauty of a cracked pot that thought it was lesser than others because it was broken. Then the water bearer pointed out that the water it leaked along the path had helped beautiful flowers to grow for others to enjoy. It is the illusion that we are lesser than, wrong or broken. What we perceive as flaws are hidden strengths that are still lost in the illusion. All we need to do is shine our light of awareness to see the truth and beauty of the perfection underneath. What beauty within are you still hiding from yourself and the world?
1 “Geneen Roth.” Super Soul Sunday, created by Oprah Winfrey, OWN, originally aired April 30, 2017.
picture courtesy of FrankWinkler on Pixabay