Field Note | 005
Mirror as Portal
Reflection—physical and digital—as a threshold into deeper self-awareness has long been a beauty technology of Black women and femmes. You see this in Issa Rae’s Insecure: the mirror becomes a way to process lived experience and internal dialogue. A place to generate ideas, create scripts, replay conversations, and vent about anything.
Like Issa Dee, I use the mirror as a form of meditation. Sometimes it’s short and sweet; other times, it becomes an hour or more of reflection.
In my practice of Nichiren Buddhism, this idea of polishing the inner mirror takes form through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I experience it as a vocal practice of reflection and inner transformation.
For me, this practice must coexist with the universal law of cause and effect: my intentions must be accompanied by the causes I create through my choices and actions. Chanting does not replace action because karma is action; it helps me clarify how I want to act.
It calls on me to take responsibility for how I respond to my circumstances and to use my voice to support that process. Through this practice, I come to recognize profound benefit: actual proof that my circumstances have changed, or that I have transformed my heart in relation to them entirely.
I’m learning that the mirror is not only a place to assess how I look. It is a place to hear myself, rehearse possibility, and decide how I want to show up in the world.
Lately, this has been so soothing—reflecting on this year as I move into a strong fourth quarter. I ask you:
- What gifts does the mirror give back to you?
- What does your Vishuddha chakra want to express?
- How can you express yourself more fully through your personal style?
