LIL Quark-Part One 1/22/01 8:49 AM Page 64

64 • Living in the Light

mirror and perceive and interpret its reflection, we have a fabulous

tool for self-awareness.
Understanding that the world is our mirror can help us see our
lives as a reflection of our beliefs, attitudes, and emotional pat-
terns. Viewed in this way, the external world can teach us about
hidden aspects of ourselves that we can’t see directly. The process
is based on two premises:
1. I assume that everything in my life is my reflection, my cre-
ation; there are no accidents or events that are unrelated to me. If
I see or feel something, if it has any impact on me, then my soul
has attracted or created it to show me something. If it didn’t mir-
ror some part of myself, I wouldn’t even be able to see it. All the
people in my life are reflections of the various characters and ener-
gies that live inside of me.
2. I always try to avoid putting myself down for the reflections
I see. I know that nothing is negative. Everything is a gift that
brings me to self-awareness — after all, I’m here to learn. If I was
already perfect I wouldn’t be here. Why should I get angry at
myself when I see things I’ve been unconscious of ? It would be like
a first grader getting frustrated because she wasn’t in college yet. I
try to maintain a compassionate attitude toward myself and my
learning process. To the extent that I can do this, the learning
process becomes fun and really quite interesting.

I am learning to view my life as a fascinating and adventurous

movie. All the characters in it are parts of me played out on the big
screen so that I can clearly see them. Once I see them and recognize