Mirror work is strangely confronting, undeniably intimidating, a little embarrassing … but also profoundly healing.
Of all the inner work practices available to us in the 21st century, mirror work is one of the simplest and most powerful.
No, you don’t have to go out and splurge money on loads of spiritual or self-help paraphernalia (thank god) – all you need to do mirror work is a mirror – that’s it! And nearly all of us already have access to one.
If you’re looking for a new psychological or spiritual tool to add to your repertoire, look no further than your bathroom mirror.
What is Mirror Work?
Mirror Work was a method originally developed by inspirational teacher Louise Hay as a way of getting in touch with the inner self. The primary purpose of mirror work is to develop self-love, self-care, and a more meaningful relationship with others. By simply looking into the mirror for a certain amount of time each day and gently talking to yourself, you can foster a more compassionate and forgiving connection with yourself.
I Feel Uneasy Sitting in Front of the Mirror – Why?
I have a challenge for you:
Go sit or stand in front of the mirror in your house for five minutes. Simply stare at yourself and hold eye contact. That’s all you have to do.
Now tell me how you feel.
If you’re like most people, you will feel uncomfortable. You may feel awkward, unsettled, embarrassed, emotional, or other feelings like self-loathing and criticism arise.
Why does this happen?
As Louise Hay writes in her book mirror work:
The mirror reflects back to you the feelings you have about yourself. It makes you immediately aware of where you are resisting and where you are open and flowing. It clearly shows you what thoughts you will need to change if you want to have a joyous, fulfilling life.
In other words, in front of the mirror, there is no hiding. In front of the mirror, we catch an intimate (and sometimes painful) glimpse into the relationship we have with ourselves.
Mirror work can make us feel initially uneasy because it exposes our inner critic in plain daylight. Suddenly everything we feel about ourselves that we might not be aware of comes to the surface. And if you haven’t developed a compassionate relationship with yourself, you might be prone to believing all the nastiness whispered by your inner critic.
Mirror Work and Reconnecting With the Inner Child
Another reason why mirror work can make us uncomfortable is that it exposes vulnerable parts of our inner selves. Most notably, mirror work can bring us face to face with the child within us.
We all possess an inner child – it is one of the many archetypes (or forms of energy) that compose our personality structures.
When looking into the mirror, it’s not unusual to feel waves of sadness wash over you. I know that when I’ve experienced this despondency, it has been from my inner child pleading for my attention.
But although looking into the mirror can be upsetting at times, these feelings point to deeper work that is happening. Simply gazing at yourself in the mirror and comforting your inner child can be a tremendously healing practice. The more emotional you feel, the more emotional purging and transformation are happening.
Mirror Work as a Portal into Your Soul
The eyes are the mirrors to the Soul as the old saying goes, and mirror work gives you direct access to that deeper part of you. But first, the inner work must happen.
Connecting with your Soul doesn’t always happen immediately during mirror work – although it can. Typically you will need to work through your insecurities and self-resentments by practicing self-love before you can feel and sense your deeper inner presence emerge.
But how do you know that you’re reconnecting with your Soul?
I can’t answer that question for everyone. But for me the presence of my Soul emerges when my face softens, my eyes become warmer and more compassionate, a slight smile enters my face, and a lighter form of energy fills my body. Feeling drawn inwards is also another sign.
As magical or mystical as it may sound, using mirror work as a portal to your Soul is actually quite natural. There is nothing phantasmagorical about it – it feels like returning home to the truest, most whole, and wisest part of yourself.
How to Practice Mirror Work (Step-By-Step Guide)
There are no official methods of doing mirror work – although you can try the 21-day practice developed by Louise Hay in her book.
Personally, I prefer to tailor mirror work to myself and my own needs. Here are some of the fundamental principles of mirror work that you might like to keep in mind if you want to create your own practice:
- Use affirmations that feel authentic to you (I’ll explain this more below)
- Dedicate at least five minutes every day
- Do mirror work in private so that you aren’t disturbed (or feel the need to keep your guard up)
- It’s okay to feel emotional – let yourself feel whatever comes up
- Keep a journal where you record any notable experiences (I’ll explain this more below)
With that being said, here is a simple step-by-step guide to mirror work that you can use and adapt to your own needs:
1. Commit yourself
Mirror work creates the deepest changes when it is done consistently over a long period of time. I recommend dedicating a minimum of five minutes a day, with ten minutes or more being ideal.
2. Think about the best time of day
Mirror work is flexible and can work around your schedule. Most people like doing mirror work in the early morning and late at night before going to bed. You can also do mirror work during the day as you pass mirrors. If there are no mirrors in your workplace, you can always use the selfie option on your phone (where you turn the camera towards yourself). You can find a private spot (such as in a bathroom cubicle) to do this exercise while at work.
3. Choose or create your own affirmation
Why use affirmations, you might ponder? Affirmations counteract the negative self-talk that runs through our heads – they also help to reprogram our minds. When we use affirmations, we are affirming something that we like about ourselves or something positive we wish to give ourselves.
You may like to create your own affirmation spontaneously based on how you feel when you look in the mirror. For example, if you feel ugly in that moment of time, you can affirm to yourself, “I have a beautiful heart and soul” or whatever feels most authentic to you. If you feel uncomfortable in your own presence, you can affirm, “It’s okay to feel uncomfortable, I accept myself as I am.”
Alternatively, you can choose from a list of affirmations and experiment with using one affirmation each day (or one for a week). Here are some examples:
- I’m learning to love you
- I’m willing to take care of you
- I love how thoughtful/caring/sincere/____ you are
- I am worthy of love
- I am enough
- I am exactly who I need to be in this moment
- It’s okay for me to feel scared
- It’s okay for me to feel sad
- It’s okay for me to feel awkward
- I love how unique my body is
- I am beautiful
- I am whole
- I lovingly embrace my fears
- I am fierce and strong
- I trust in my natural wisdom
- I am open and receptive
- I believe in myself
There are thousands of affirmations out there – so this is just a little “sampler.”
A note on affirmations: If you are creating your own affirmations, please ensure that you keep them phrased in a positive way. Many practitioners who work with affirmations (such as those who study NLP) assert that the unconscious mind does not understand negatives and will translate any negatively phrased affirmation in reverse. For example, instead of saying “I am not worthless, I am worthy” say, “I am worthy.” Or instead of saying, “I will not be mean to myself” say, “I treat myself with kindness.”
Also, the point of affirmations isn’t to sugarcoat how you feel. If you genuinely can’t say to yourself in the mirror “I love you” then don’t! The point isn’t to be disingenuous, the aim is to offer sincere love to yourself. If an affirmation such as “I love and accept you” feels too difficult, focus on a milder affirmation such as “I am learning to love and accept you” or “I want to love and accept you more.”
4. Repeat your affirmation (with feeling)
Whether out loud or in your head, repeat your affirmation to yourself at least ten times. Louise Hay recommends at least 100 times – but that can seem overwhelming at first. Certainly, the more you repeat your affirmation with sincerity, the deeper impact it will make. So try to set a realistic number and stick to it. You can always increase the number of times you say your affirmation while looking in the mirror as you progress through your practice.
When saying your affirmation, it’s important to look at yourself directly in the eyes. You may also like to use your own name as this sends a powerful message to your unconscious. For example, you may wish to say, “I appreciate how caring you are [insert your name here]”, “I love you [insert your name here].”
5. Embrace any emotions that arise
It’s normal and okay to feel upset. If you feel the need to cry, let yourself – you are releasing old ways of being, and that is powerful work! You may also wish to give yourself a hug, which is also wonderfully therapeutic. It’s likely that you will feel emotional at some point and that is because the old frozen pain within you that has built up through the years is bubbling to the surface. Sometimes the emotions we feel during mirror work are from childhood, particularly if they are intense. If this is the case, comfort your inner child by acknowledging it within you as you look at the mirror. You may wish to say words such as, “It’s okay, I see you, I understand,” “I’m here for you,” “I love how brave you are little [insert name],” etc.
A note about men doing mirror work: Feeling and expressing emotions will likely be more difficult for men than for women. Why? Men are conditioned to perceive being stoic as a true measure of manliness – but the truth is that “stoic” is just another word for emotionally distanced and repressed. There is nothing courageous about avoiding emotions. If you are a man, you will need extra reassurance and compassion through this stage of the work. Have some deep affirmations on hand and the willingness to see your emotional openness as true strength.
6. Record your discoveries
It is important during the course of your mirror work to keep a journal. You don’t need to write long paragraphs about your experiences if that doesn’t suit you – simply write a sentence or two. Record how you feel (even if that means expressing how silly you feel) and what came up. You don’t need to keep a mirror work journal every day, but please ensure that you write down whatever notable experiences you’ve had. Any new emotions, thoughts, discoveries or breakthroughs should be recorded. By keeping a journal, you will be able to track your evolution and progress.
***
Mirror work is deceptively simple but tremendously empowering. So much healing work can be done by simply looking at yourself in the mirror and expressing self-loving affirmations.
One of the most amazing side benefits of mirror work is how it impacts your relationships. By developing more self-love, life becomes more harmonious and your connections with others can improve significantly. It’s true that love for self equals love for others. But you don’t have to believe me – try mirror work yourself!
If you have dabbled with this fascinating tool or are a loyal advocate, share with me your experiences. What part of mirror work is the most difficult for you? How do you overcome those difficulties?
Your work to help others is excellent i appreciate. Reading it
There was a time when I didn’t like the mirror. It showed all my weaknesses and all that I wanted to change on a physical level. I wanted “more of this” and “less of that” so to speak. Years ago I read an article that stated to smile every time you look in the mirror and to say positive affirmations. I’ve been doing that every morning since I read that article and it honestly has made a difference for me. I have learned to accept all my weaknesses and strengths because I am exactly who I’m supposed to be! Perfectly imperfect.
This article was amazing because it was a reminder for me. A reminder that I can get through anything even with something as simple as looking into a mirror. Sometimes you gotta rip off that bandage and see things for what they are. There are so many benefits in doing that!!!!
Thank you for such a great article!!!!!
Lots of love,
Tania
Thank you Tania for sharing that positive experience in your own mirror work. It really is amazing how something so simple and basic that we do everyday but take for granted can be such a powerful tool of transformation.
Much love :)
Mateo, this is another awesome one :) I am very happy to have taken a few minutes to really read through this and confirm that I am on a successful path to instituting what mirror work I’ve committed to thus far.
Beyond therapeutic, it is amazing to achieve self-awareness through these techniques then see what is reflected around us as well. The environment we are in is a wonderful reflection of our inner selves- of course, dependent upon how we see it ;)
Thank you for all ya’ll bring to attention; so glad to have found your mailing list again! Such confirmations- now I’ve gotta work on some more affirmations :D
“Beyond therapeutic, it is amazing to achieve self-awareness through these techniques then see what is reflected around us as well.” Too true, any exercises that bring us back to our center of awareness are immensely powerful, and few things are as stirring as your reflection (or that which you think is ‘you’) looking right back at ‘you’ into your point of perception.
Perhaps that’s why mirror-houses are so simultaneously fun yet unnerving.
If you examine people’s photo’s at length- you will notice that each eye reflects different aspects of a person. When I started to do mirror work a while back I also noticed that each of my eyes was different. The right one reflected more inner qualities: deep inner feelings, inner pain, vulnerabilities, insecurities, and more of my inner child. My left eye was more of what I showed to the world; the outer part of who I am-my social self. It also seemed to reveal my wise, encouraging higher self. Sometimes one eye will be more dominant in brightness and appearance then the other-depending on what I am working on. When I first started the work-I noticed that my right eye seemed dull and lifeless. It seemed to reflect that I had neglected/rejected this vulnerable part of myself. When I observed this in the mirror I started to cry- and then noticed deep sadness in that eye-as if it felt grief because I had rejected it for so long.. But after a week or so of really connecting with this part-my right eye seemed to have energy and life to it. It felt alive because I had acknowledged and accepted it. I saw this as great progress in my self-love. I really enjoy doing this practice as I seem to see parts of myself that I have come to love. I now understand that when you reject parts of yourself-you unwittingly reject beautiful parts also.
Thank you Linda, for sharing such an interesting observation during your mirror work. You’re entirely right in saying “that when you reject parts of yourself-you unwittingly reject beautiful parts also.”, this is exactly the basis of behind shadow work, when people bury ‘shadowy’ aspects of their personality they are also burying treasures hidden within each of those aspects.
I agree completely as I I e noticed throughout the years in photos..if u place a hand over half of a face..or your own..u see two sides to the story for sure…
Thanks for the consistently great mind and soul stirring stirring material.. <3
Amen; I’ve held this understanding of disparity or symmetry in one’s inner self is quite literally “written on one’s face” and it is such a joy to see it reflected back in the thoughts of another.
Such a universe we live in.
I’ve been working a lot on positive affirmations and improving my self esteem, and feel I’ve come a long way. Even so, I found myself getting emotional as I read this article. My love and acceptance of myself has grown tremendously so I’m not sure why I had such a powerful reaction when reading the list of affirmations, particularly the “it’s okay to be…” bullets. For some reason reading it from someone else hit me harder than when I say it to myself (which is often).
Thank you Megan for sharing your experience with affirmations. In reading this part “For some reason reading it from someone else hit me harder than when I say it to myself” you’ll begin seeing that the further you develop with your inner work, the more and more your own affirmations will hit you harder. Right now other people saying it has more of an impact, but slowly the source (being you) of those affirmations will start trusting itself enough that the effects of the affirmations will feel boundless in its impact.
Thank you, Mateo. I look forward to when that will happen! Thanks for your encouragement.
Without knowing it, I used affirmations to suppress and not listen to my self-talk; in a way telling myself: “I am wrong”, “I am bad” to think or say that about myself, my relations with people/work.
A new imaginative concept came to me a several weeks ago.
I picture “my trains of thought”, as actual trains with writing on them.
The trains of thought that keep me struck in self-depressive mode I picture as train-cars that are dented, rusted, ruined. making lots of noise and difficulty in running along tracks that are in bad repair.
And to the left in my mind’s eye, I see, bright, shiny new train cars with positive messages about myself, that are running smoothly on solid firm tracks.
The key is to hear how I am talking to myself in the moment
– and then assign what ‘train of thought’ is operating. If I notice it’s the “breaking down” train cars that are running, I simply say: “Ah, ok.”, and turn to the left in my mental picture to see the positive train cars and put fuel into them, so that I can shift my disposition in the moment and make a choice in the next moment or so to think and do something positive and productive for myself.
Reframing my thought processing, without being judgemental to myself. And that I have a choice of what type of thoughts dominate over me – to become more aware of my unconscious turn conscious intentions.
I love this! Thanks so much for sharing
Thank you Larissa for sharing such an interesting approach to handling your internal thought cycles, it sounds like it has had powerful effects for you and I’m sure so many other readers will benefit from trying this. It sounds very similar to the visualization techniques used by Carl Jung who thought that imagination can be our most powerful healer when we can willfully use it. :)
Seriously, this was a wonderful visualization- in reality, I have consistently found trains to be so symbolic and indicative of bring forth some heavy messages.
I toot my metaphoric horn to this one! Thank you!