The perception of you, vs how you feel about yourself

It is strange when you find out how someone perceives you but that's not how you are or feel you are. I often get told how confident I am but I feel the complete opposite. And find so much jealously towards others I think are confident, but maybe there a goldfish just like me.

Marrying perception and your reality is a big challenge.

Its like the body dysmorphia syndrome - we all have a bit of this. Its hard to know what others see - I look in the mirror and think yeah sometimes if you tilt your head and squint I look ok. We all have opinions of ourselves and getting past our self criticism is important mountain in life to climb.

If your working a big corporate job, you gotta be a shark whether or not thats what you feel like. The image and perception is very important. Now this very reason why it is a ego-centric world I do not want to play in. I do not want to spend my energy projecting who I should be to get false respect, more money and power. The whole thing is just kind of weird. A dog eat dog world, and I don't eat meat.

Volunteered Simplicity is a nice paraphrase of the people shifting out of this corporate cycle, sacrificing some of the luxuries for more time; less stuff to be more real. Easier said than done, as I have to window shop and say no to shiny pretty things. Its hard. I do think it is a life for some people, and I respect that. Some people thrive in the corporate environment and thats their path.

But what I hope for everyone is we can be true to ourselves deep down. Trying not to put others down to lift or protect ourselves. Talk about bad karma. If you gotta put that shark fin on thats cool but don't forget we are all goldfish.

In yoga you might think your doing a posture a certain way but in reality what your doing isn't what you think your doing. That why it great if a studio has a mirror, or if you get someone to take pics of your postures. Sometimes I think I am so rocking this back bend, then I look in the mirror and I am not even bending back. Or maybe you think your far away from doing a posture good and really your there. Either way remember whatever you are doing that day is good for you - many things impact each day and what you can achieve that day.

Try not to worry so much about what others think, but when you can project something so positive like confidence, but inside you are not embracing it, we need to find a way to have these things meet in the middle.