{"id":5093,"date":"2013-05-09T22:03:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T02:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=5093"},"modified":"2013-05-09T22:03:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T02:03:42","slug":"presentation-and-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html","title":{"rendered":"Presentation and Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"overlay_image_anchor_1036152\" href=\"\/photo.php?imageId=1036152&amp;searchId=fdf7e059425bafe5c6a26c193c5c097e&amp;npos=2\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"overlay_image_1036152\" title=\"looking glass\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Recently I was in conversation with a woman who by most standards, is stunningly beautiful; tall and statuesque, well groomed and decked out&#8230;..and yet&#8230;.she has inner hammering thoughts that say she isn&#8217;t thin enough and\u00a0attractive enough. She is nearly constantly comparing herself with others; women in the supermarket, in cars next to her on a highway. How she looks matters more than who she is. I felt a sense of sadness as I listened to her. She is successful in most people&#8217;s view, with a well paying job and yet, she doubts her value. I wondered instead about her <strong><em>values<\/em><\/strong>, so I asked her if presentation matters more than perception. I felt even more dismayed when I heard her answer and applied it to my own life. I sometimes make how I present to the world more important than my own perception of who I am. One thing I know for sure, is that no matter HOW I present myself, I have absolutely no control over how anyone perceives me.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when I need to take personal inventory and ask if my behaviors are in alignment with my values. Am I acting in such ways as to manipulate people into seeing me as I want to be seen or am I genuinely moving from heart and consciousness?\u00a0 There was a time when I attempted to micromanage my relationships, wanting only be seen in a certain light, so as to get my needs met. These days, my intentions are more pure (remembering that I am a human BE-ing and a work in progress) and not\u00a0meant to control any0ne&#8217;s opinion. When I fall into that old pattern, life shows up in such a way that reminds me to be clean in my interactions.<\/p>\n<p>When I look in the mirror, I sometimes see a different image than others do. Most people find it hard to believe that I am 54; but I can assure you by showing you my birth certificate that I was born in 1958. There are days when I feel 24 and some days 74. When I look on a surface level, I see wrinkles, and gray hairs and when I look more closely, I take in the image of a woman with laugh lines and well earned silver sprouting in between the dark chestnut elfin shorn hair. My energy peaks and ebbs depending on activity level and requirements of my day. I am not afraid of growing old, since my role models for aging have been mostly positive. Most who fear aging usually verbalize that it is because they see\u00a0it \u00a0as a downhill slide into losing vitality. Instead, I view\u00a0it as an ongoing experience, a drinking in of life, slurping from the bottom of the glass, \u00a0rather than pushing it away out of fear of loss. Such a paradox.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of any given day, if I can look in the mirror and feel in harmony with the face gazing back at me, then perception and presentation are one.<\/p>\n<p>For all who doubt their beauty and measure it by unrealistic standards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pOfhbLn8fw8\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pOfhbLn8fw8<\/a>\u00a0 Beautiful by India.Arie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Recently I was in conversation with a woman who by most standards, is stunningly beautiful; tall and statuesque, well groomed and decked out&#8230;..and yet&#8230;.she has inner hammering thoughts that say she isn&#8217;t thin enough and\u00a0attractive enough. She is nearly constantly comparing herself with others; women in the supermarket, in cars next to her on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,13,19,14,4,16,7,29],"tags":[4894,2882,3086,618,3106,3105],"class_list":["post-5093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-empowerment","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-re-creating-your-life","category-women","tag-aging","tag-beautiful","tag-body-image","tag-india-arie","tag-perception","tag-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Presentation and Perception - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presentation and Perception - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Recently I was in conversation with a woman who by most standards, is stunningly beautiful; tall and statuesque, well groomed and decked out&#8230;..and yet&#8230;.she has inner hammering thoughts that say she isn&#8217;t thin enough and\u00a0attractive enough. She is nearly constantly comparing herself with others; women in the supermarket, in cars next to her on&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T02:03:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Presentation and Perception - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Presentation and Perception - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; Recently I was in conversation with a woman who by most standards, is stunningly beautiful; tall and statuesque, well groomed and decked out&#8230;..and yet&#8230;.she has inner hammering thoughts that say she isn&#8217;t thin enough and\u00a0attractive enough. She is nearly constantly comparing herself with others; women in the supermarket, in cars next to her on&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2013-05-10T02:03:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html","name":"Presentation and Perception - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-10T02:03:42+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T02:03:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/looking_glass_mirror_1036152_m.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/05\/presentation-and-perception.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Presentation and Perception"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5093"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5096,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5093\/revisions\/5096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}