End of the year is great time for review and reflection and making of new plans. I started jotting down events of the year. I question why some of these happen, I do not understand the complexities when I am seeking simple straight forward answers. I see constant changes in the landscape and life seems too complicated!

Individually, these events seem disjointed, but put together they seem to tell me a story. You see, when I take my storyboard of 2009 and put in different reflecting mirrors at different inclined angles and I see a different picture. So now, not only the story changes each time I rearrange the events, the entire picture changes if I use different mirrors (with different properties) and if I incline them at different angles to each other. This is my kaleidoscope with endless possibilities.

We all know what a kaleidoscope is. It is an optical device made up of multiple inclined mirrors that reflect images of bits of colored glass or other objects in a design. The design changes each time you rotate the section containing the loose fragments. The magic is in the mirrors. Different mirrors have different properties and depending on the different angles of inclination you see a different picture.

For this reason I join different groups for my personal and business development. Each time I bring my questions or challenging issues to the group I get new interpretations and some different perspectives. Some of these pictures are totally refreshing and new to me. The power of reflecting mirrors.

Let us draw some lessons from the kaleidoscope:
1 – Your mirror will only reflect what is there already with the same angle of incline; they do not create or make up the content.

Application: the next time you do not like what you see reflected back at you from the mirror, please do not smash the mirror. Your friend or accountability partner is merely reflecting not creating the image.

2- When rays are reflected from a rough surface, they are reflected in many directions and no clear image is formed. Similarly, rays that are reflected from a smooth surface, gives you a clear image.

Application: seek the right kind of mirrors in your life. It is no use trying to get a mirror that makes us look fit when we need to work out and be conscious of living a healthy lifestyle. Without knowing the "truth" we cannot make improvements.

We are great at deceiving ourselves; we believe what we want to believe. Sometimes when the truth hurts too much, we choose to avoid, deny or hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see.

If you are near the dye vermilion, you will be stained red, if you are close to black ink, you will be stained black. – Chinese Proverb. 
Choose your company wisely.

3- Image is reversed in the mirror left to right. What you see is a switch. We know what we feel and how we feel. And we also want to observe how others feel from where they stand. Being in a group and having different perspectives helps us see us through the eyes of others; we become our own observer. 

Application: The situation is (or we are) not as "bad" or as "good" as we think. Others will offer you a different story. 

4- What you see in the mirror is a virtual image; the pattern in the kaleidoscope is beautiful but not real. To make it real, we have to actualize it. We need to make it happen, create the reality of the picture you see, and yes we can not run away from the goals, the plans and the executions.

So whether you want to make sense of what is happening or that you want to have more mirrors offering you reflections from different angles, you can consider being a part of a group.

if you are not up for a more business-like mastermind group, you can join an online group with group coaching facilities.  Here you are given the opportunity to have your views expanded, you are given time to realise your own answers, to see things from different perspectives and you are given the space and time to go a little deeper and make some sense out of the complexities you see around you.

How would you want to develop your story in 2010?
By the way, I am sure you carry a mirror in your bag, there may also be one on your desk, so let this be a year of reflecting mirrors! 

Leave your comments, share your light and input for our kaleidoscope!