Take a look in the mirror.

I hate proud people! Why is he so proud? He walks around thinking he is God’s gift to women!

How many times have you heard these statements and just roll your eyes back and keep going? Most times it is the proud that would make these very statements. It is human nature that we hate most the people who remind us MOST about ourselves. Now I shouldn't use the word “Hate”. Hate is a strong word, but you know what I mean? They dislike them greatly. To a point where they just can’t “stand” to be around them.

Well it never ends with just someone’s character. If someone is fat, 9 out of 10 times the person who will point that out to the entire universe is another fat person!

It’s the whole concept of the speck versus beam in the eye. We’ve heard the parable before – “Why try to remove the speck in your brother’s eye when there is a beam in your own?” this judgmental character flaw of human beings.

If this judgmental nature is part of our human character, then it could explains a lot of behavioral interactions between people. But is it really so difficult to just "like" another person? Why are we so critical of others and do nothing to improve ourselves, especially if other people are critical of us?

I'm not tooting my own horn, but I want to point out a quick example of how people generally behavior and then after an "event" I corrected my behavior. Bear in mind this event from my experience had everything to do with me looking in a mirror; specifically a scale.

After I gained some weight, just about 20 pounds, I stopped calling people fat. When I weighed 115 pounds I "believed" that I was quite in right to call someone who seemed to me to be weighing 200 pounds, FAT, if I so desired. Identifying a 200lb person as fat - to me, at the time - was simply stating a very obvious fact! Now if we go with that premise then another 200 pound person can call a 250 pound person fat and they too will be stating a fact. Now why would someone who 200lbs call someone who is 250 lbs fat, You're both over 150 lbs which is unhealthy for the average woman of middle age anyway! So doesn't Mr. 200 pounder say, "Oh I'm really fat, just like this guy over here who is 250lbs".

I think the obvious point is that we don't like stating FACTS about ourselves. I don't want to announce that I am a poor writer, or a poor mathematician, or a poor singer.

So again - when I was 115 pounds, why is it that when I observed a 200 pound person walking in front of me, I didn't say to myself, Geeze Louise!!! I am really thin!!!! I didn't want to state the FACT that I was really skinny! I didn't want to put the focus on me when there are so many other people that I can focus on.

People live for the external. We never want to speak about ourselves, observe ourselves or take a real self-examination. That is too difficult - it is far easier to look at the other 6 billion people in the world and state facts about them. People do not seem to realize that although we belong to this world population each individual was born, each individual will live a unique and individual life, and each individual will be buried, burned or mummified - die. Does it really matter what other people are doing, saying, eating, acting? So why focus on that.

Focus on what you are doing. When we really observe our daily actions of every hour, minute and second we begin to life a self consciousness which allows us to begin to live fulfilled lives.

To be self conscious, not of the exterior, but of the interior you, is a scary feeling - because for the first time in maybe years you are looking at yourself. You are seeing all the faults, all the imperfections, and you see where you can improve, if you want to or care to. There are some people who will really like what they see and others who will want to change and others that will simply get too depressed with who they are and go back to judging other people to compensate for the judgments they can't bear to cast on themselves.

In the end we either stay the way we are or we change. Like everything else in life we have a choice - to either look in the mirror or not look in the mirror; to either change what we see or don't change what we see; live a conscious life or just go through the motions of life.