By Elisabeth Fayt, founder of rnr Wellness
I was out for an evening stroll with a great friend the other night. The scenery was picturesque: a large serene lake, BC mountains looming in the distance, and a few families lingering on the beach enjoying the evening sun.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere came this vehicle, windows rolled down, screaming profanities at us. What a contrast. The two young men in the car were seemingly calling out to us for something they thought we were doing wrong.
My friend and I looked at each other with eyebrows raised. Then she said “House of Mirrors, Elisabeth!”
“House of Mirrors?” I questioned.
“Yes, don’t you know the story?” Clearly, I hadn’t, so I asked her to share. Afterward I looked it up and found it to be ancient Japanese Folklore, and it goes like this:
“Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, ‘This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often.’
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, ‘That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.’
All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?”
Throughout the rest of our evening together, my friend and I continued our lively conversation, tackling many different topics. Each topic, we were led to the same conclusion and we would chant it together: “House of Mirrors!”
It really made me ponder my own life. And how this message could make a difference. As much as I consider myself a happy and positive person, still the message was humbling and profound. So I leave you with an important question: how will you enter your House of Mirrors today?
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