Your Face is a Mirror of your Thoughts

[zeitgeist]

Spiritual path travelers below the age of 30, stop reading; what I write about simply doesn't apply to you, but one day it will, so you might as well continue reading.

Have you ever seen an 'older' person getting lost in thoughts? Dark thoughts they must be otherwise you wouldn't see so much anguish, conflict and misery. We have no clue what is happening to our faces when we contemplate strive, worries, lust, our career and social status, etc.. Erich Fromm once said, "over 40, you are responsible for your face". Put differently, you look like what you think you are.

I have discovered one remedy though. Meet people and interact with them. Experience how when you meet them, your face lights up. You do not think, you dance with them, and your face will show it. Of course, if you carry some psychological baggage with you vis-a-vis your brother and sister, the trick will not work. Your face will show all the reservations you have.

I recommend running the following experiment: try catching yourself with the help of a mirror, or a video camera while you get lost in your thoughts. Study how different the person you see there looks from the person you expect to see. After this experiment, chances are you will catch the mental bubbles of competition, worries, lust, the hunger for social recognition and wealth, etc., as you become aware of your train of thoughts. This bubble will burst immediately when you remember how different that person looks like right now from the real you.

[AndrewJen]

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

Spiritual path travelers below the age of 30, stop reading

Unfortunately for you, I'm a rebel and I thoroughly read your post.

Many parts of our body are influenced by our lifestyle.

• I catch myself mimicking expressions I see my girlfriend make often.
• I'm lost in thought a lot of times so my personality seems airy at times, though it's more like deep submersion in water.
• At busy times in my life my posture slouches because I'm busy drawing or painting at a table.
• I suffered a bout of heavy depression from 19-22 and will carry scars from that forever, and I feel intuitive people can see that part of me that is always healing.

It is interesting how much our bodies change to suit our state of mind, our social relationships, and our environments. The face is so expressive so it's going to really show this, but the evidence is in our hands, our walk, our vocal chords, etc... your face and body adapt to your essence year after year.

[zeitgeist]

Originally Posted by AndrewJen

nced by our lifestyle.
[*]I suffered a bout of heavy depression from 19-22 and will carry scars from that forever, and I feel intuitive people can see that part of me that is always healing.


It is interesting how much our bodies change to suit our state of mind, our social relationships, and our environments. The face is so expressive so it's going to really show this, but the evidence is in our hands, our walk, our vocal chords, etc... your face and body adapt to your essence year after year.

Many thanks for your thoughtful reply Andrew. Everything you say sounds right, though I wonder whether we really need to carry scars around all our life. They say our body changes completely every seven years, so I would think that if your soul has healed, your body and face will change with it as well.

You mention posture in your note, several years ago I discovered that I had a slight hunch and I decided to literally bend my spine straght again. Actually, I made it a symbol of my spiritual homecoming. Several years later I am happy to report that I have managed, though it still tales some conscious effort, but I am sure there will be a time when it just happens subconscously.

All the best, and may your path be blessed,

Zeitgeist

[AndrewJen]

That may happen, but the depression determined a lot of who I am today; since I got through it for the most part I learned so much about compassion, patience, tolerance, suffering and healing. My personality changed quite a bit, I've become less selfish because of it and a lot less judgmental. I'm rarely angry and can uproot problems in my life pretty immediately. As whole I've learned to be more honest with myself. So I'm thankful for the scars, because as I see it they carved out parts of my life that now harbor much more positive things.

And again I feel people can read that on me sometimes.

That's great about the posture improving, I think how we choose to carry out body affects our internal state just as much as our interal state determines how we carry ourselves, it is a relationship that takes conscious fostering at times.

[Showtime]

Originally Posted by AndrewJen

Unfortunately for you, I'm a rebel and I thoroughly read your post.

Same here.

Yea, there are a lot of ways for you to "read" a persons attitude, face is one of them. As simple as it sounds you can usually tell how happy a person is by how much they're smiling. That's the quickest way for me. You can also read it by things like how much their face is scrunched, their body language, their voice tone, etc or you can just rely on intuition.