Take Nothing Personally! What Kind of Mirror Is Reality?

Reality is a mirror, and don’t take anything personally! These two gems of spiritual advice are both profound and confusing, depending on how they’re understood. What’s more, they paradoxically connect in subtle ways, with huge implications for all of our relationships and emotional motivations. Do other people really show us things about ourselves, and if so how can that be impersonal to not take offense? Join us this Sunday Nov 9, 2025 for a free empowering talk on how reality is structured to include other people, so you can manifest the life you really want and not just settle for a life that you were given.

Life is a journey of consciousness. This means your state of mind is what determines the reality you’re in. That’s abstract but makes some sense, because you know that if you’re too upset or distracted then you can’t function effectively. Conversely, when you’re alert and happy then you make good use of resources to have a great experience. Most people see their moods as important enough to try to control somehow, perhaps to be more productive or just to feel good. But then society teaches us that how we feel has limited effect. We’re told to think positive thoughts to maximize our opportunities, but then don’t expect to objectively change reality just by personal attitudes. The outer world is more solid than emotions, so we need force what we want to happen, right?

In fact, reality does completely change based on our emotions, which are in turn generated by our own beliefs. Everyone is living in their own consciousness copy of the Universe, with events determined by personal values and decisions. Mastering this power is the modern art of consciously creating our own reality, in which mindfulness does the “shadow work” to reveal the beliefs and choices we can change to become a new better version of ourselves. The greatest gift of life is that we can always become more of our own true selves, by choosing what we like and exploring how that makes us happy and fulfilled. We each have our own predestined soul in paradise that’s guiding us to grow happier forever, thank goodness! So then what doesn’t appeal to us we can learn to calmly let go, without opposing it from the survival reactions that keep us stuck. Society teaches us to fight or flight to end a problem, when really such reactions trap us in endless struggle, so then we never feel good or safe enough to relax and be our happy selves.

Since each consciousness has its own way of experiencing everything, we effectively always live inside of our own energy bubble. All the emotional energy is our own, so we can start to react to other people and then keep reacting to our own reactions. We really do see and meet other people in life, but the way we perceive them comes from our own minds. As the ancient Rabbi said, “We see things not as they are, but as we are.” This was said in regard to dream interpretation as dream images are about us, and the quote has been applied more generally since. That’s fair since physical life is a waking dream, and everything has personal symbolic meaning for us to learn to master and enjoy.

What’s more, there is only consciousness from which to create anything. Thus our entire reality is both personal about us, and made up of other beings who are having their own lives. This makes life like a fractal of endless depth, or endless microcosms of macrocosms. In this arrangement, consciousnesses will meet each other when they have a meaning or message for each other. It’s up to each being to understand for themselves what their reality means to them, because it’s personal and different for everyone. Groups of beings can cluster in similar realities for sake of communication, but lots of disagreement over what things mean can result. Life is a very complicated mirror feedback system with tremendous ambiguity. This can make for deeply satisfying complex relationships!

For this meetup, think about your own experiences with reality as a mirror that gives views and lessons about yourself. What emotions come up for you in thinking about how fair or unfair life has been to you? After check-ins to share a bit, I’ll explain more clearly how we create our own realities that then cross-connect based on shared beliefs and life lessons. You’ll get better at letting people go with compassion, and focusing on your own values and goals. We’ll conclude with a guided meditation to let our higher self guide us to live happy ever after.

Welcome! Our Inner Selves Mastery spiritual support group is free online every Sunday 11am-130pm EDT, with the last 30 minutes for a guided meditation. You can signup here for this meeting, check www.meetup.com/Inner-Selves-for-Outer-Mastery for all events, and visit www.signupism.com for newsletter, videos, and more.

Best wishes,
Carl Johann Schroeder
Inner Selves Mastery
spiritual teaching and coaching
www.signupISM.com for newsletter, YouTube, meetups, and more