Your Reflection

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Your Reflection Current mood: contemplative When you look in the mirror what do you see? Do you see the same reflection that others see when they look at you? Do you perceive yourself as others perceive you? Do you present yourself in the manner that you want to be seen? Do you present yourself as you are? With todays technology its very hard to percieve others reactions and emotions. What is the proper way to present yourself in type print? Do you write as you would speak or do you create a different persona? Its too easy to make others percieve you as a person that you are not when standing face to face or making your voice heard. More often than not a person you "speak" to on the internet is not the same person as when you meet them in real life. Has technology ruined communication skills? With all the ways of communication available at our fingertips how often do we truly communicate with others? From Myspace to Facebook, to now Twitter. From handwritten letters to emails to texts. We have learned to communicate in short forms leaving out information that could change the impression we are trying to make. When was the last time you communicated with a person on the telephone? Do you even say telephone? When calling someone it is often stated as phone or cell. In this example of shortened text we have learned to go from hand written letters that were once signed, sealed, stamped and delivered by a postman to the laziness of spelling in short form of text message to having to fit a complete thought in 140 characters or less on Twitter. In doing so we have learned to forgive or overlook grammatical errors. For example, to say I'm going to send you a text message with more information" we would transpose it into "Imma txt u w/ more info." Instead of picking up the phone to check on someone, regardless of who they are, we would pick up the phone and send a text, tweet them, write on their facebook wall, or even lowering our standards to commenting them on MySpace. But is a comment on MySpace truly lowering our standards to stay in contact with someone? I myself and guilty of all of the above. When you read text/type print it is easy to miss the emotion sent with whats written giving it a completly different perception to the recieving person as what was originally meant. Meaning its so easy to misinterpret whats truly being said. We aren't taught in school how important voice reflection is. How is this affecting life as humans? With this being said, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself outloud the same thing you would send in a text. Could it be percieved differently than what it actually sounds like when spoken aloud? Think about this the next time you go to say something. Its important to remember the reflection you give others and what impression you are leaving on yourself. Would it be wrong for your job to question what you say? When you are employed by a company or a person, how you present yourself, whether you are on or off the company time, is also a reflection of your employer. If you are a public figure, regardless of stature, its even more important to think before you speak....err type. How are you representing your employer by speaking your personal opinions on clients, colleagues, employer, friends, etc? Do you represent them in the same manner you'd want them to represent you? Even though they employ you, they also represent who you are as a person because it is your choice to be employed by them. If you are not happy then take the proper steps to resolve the situation. If you are so unhappy then either follow the protocol or leave. You are not forced to be there. Another mirage in life is what you choose to share with others. Do you often withhold information unknowingly or purposely? Has the internet become our escape from dealing with reality of life? I have vented to get something off my chest many times on various social networking websites yet I don't share every detail. I also realize that by not sharing every detail I can give a completely different impression of what is really on my mind. Personally I try to present myself as the same person I am "in real life." Of course sometimes my mirror is cracked giving me a different view of my own reflection. Are you looking at yourself in a funhouse mirror or is your mirror in perfect form? What is your true reflection?