Breaking the Mirror
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Kagami Biraki or Breaking The Mirror is a traditional Japanese ceremony held at the beginning of each year for the students of Aikido at the Yoshinkan Dojo (training hall) – where the Tokyo Riot Police Train in the Martial Art of Aikido (the way of Harmony). The mirror, we are told, contains the old image: we look on it with old eyes and memories of who we believe ourselves to be and yet every cell in our body is different from the cells we had six months ago. We are new every moment and have the possibility of breaking the old confines and becoming a new person. A new version of ourselves.
The miracle question is this: –
If you woke up tomorrow and your life was exactly how you want it to be, what would it look like?
If you were to re-invent yourself right now I have no doubt that you would choose to lose the bad habits and keep the good, to lose the things about you that you do not like and to encourage the parts that you love, in fact to enhance them so that they become a major part of your persona. You may choose to adopt some new habits. You would become a better person, and our choice as to what that better person was like would be ours and ours alone.
I have, for quite a few years now, devoted myself to helping others achieve their goals and dreams, helping them to become the people that they believe they can be. During this period of my life I have, time and again, noticed that some people seize upon this philosophy of living (for that is what it is) and change their lives for ever, never looking back but they are fewer than I would have ever thought. Does this tell us that success is only available to a select few? Is God selective about our ability to be successful (in whatever way we choose to define success)? In my opinion, this cannot be the case. But, as with many of our gifts we each have talents that come easily and many more that come less so and need working on, sometimes on a daily basis. It is my belief that we can achieve pretty much all that we wish to. Our only true limitation is time, and because none of us have the wonderful lifespan of Methuselah we must prioritise, but more about that later.
Let us compare our mental work out with a physical one. We all know how important it is to keep healthy and because jobs and daily routines no longer involve as much physical effort as they once did, we have to make extra time for it. Only a small percentage of people actually spend time achieving any level of fitness above the norm. Those who do often arrange to meet a friend to attend a particular class that they like or they get into a routine of attending a class at a set time. Those with more disposable income may pay a personal trainer to take them through the necessary work out.
This book is your personal trainer; it should not be put on a shelf somewhere and kept clean for fear of creasing the spine. It should be left somewhere to remind you everyday what area you are developing that day. You may wish to leave it in the bathroom; you may wish to have it in your car, in your gym bag or on your coffee table. I have books with me everywhere I go, let’s not waste any of the wonderful time we have been so generously given.
This book is designed to give a little something to think about and work on every couple of days. Only three sessions per week. I once read a Bible Study book by Charles Swindoll which was three sessions a week; it is the only bible study book I have completed, I kept it going for the whole year, I rarely got behind and if I did I could catch up easily. It was manageable and if I was feeling good, instead of reading ahead I would read the same section two days running. This is what I would recommend you to do with this book. Each subsection has a short amount of text to read and then some questions for you to think about and make a note of. Then I would suggest that you continue to think about the questions and your answers for the next day or two, if necessary come back to it a couple of times. Write the question down and place it somewhere to remind you. I do not claim to be perfect or know more than anyone else, I only wish to stimulate your thoughts, to encourage you to question the status quo. If you disagree with what I have put, that’s great - at least I have made you think about it.
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About the Book
During the last ten years of inspiring people to change their lives for the better in both huge and tiny ways, the most common complaint people have is that they don’t have a personal trainer helping them every week or even every day to stay mentally fit and healthy. This may be the reason ‘Life Coaching’ has become so popular. Not everyone can afford a Life Coach or indeed find one that they like enough to let into the most personal and intimate parts of their life and thinking.
This book is an “in between solution” – it helps those with a lack of drive to get into enough of a habit that they can sort their lives out for themselves but it take a little bit more self control than having someone turn up on your doorstep three times a week (it is however, cheaper than that).
If you use this book to its true potential and you are disciplined enough, not just to finish it, but also to stop yourself from reading ahead – it will really make a difference to your daily habits, which in turn will make a difference to your life. But, like joining a gym, if you don’t go – it won’t make you any fitter, if you don’t use this correctly, it won’t make a difference at all. So, it is up to you. Use it wisely, and then after a few months, you will move on the bigger and better things – if you want to.
About the Author
Heather Wright is one of the founding directors and shareholders of Advance Performance, a company formed with a mission to be the first choice provider of corporate and personal development in the
Heather is an inspirational speaker and facilitator, and has delivered speeches and workshops to public services and large multinational companies in the
Heather's Personal Mission Statement is: If you want life to be exciting, get up and make it exciting. The world doesn’t owe you a thing, but you owe yourself and others plenty. Heather has achieved an excellent reputation for her professionalism and accessibility when working with clients, and she has enough energy to run a small power station.
Heather is married with two children. She has attained black belts in Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Jujitsu, she also enjoys Rock Climbing and Free Fall Parachuting as well as working on her fitness levels by running, swimming and cycling. She has a list of things she wants to do and somewhere near the top is to do a base jump off angel falls.