As Bobby Dylan would say: "The answer my friend is blowin in the wind" and also given in the pictures that i have attached. Could the answer be "the hand we choose" in exercising our "free will". For as Martin Luther King has stated "there is

good and evil in all of us.

I go to sleep now and will tell tomorrow what reaction I feel when I see myself in the mirror. I don't know yet. Other people already know.

I feel grateful and thank God for all blessings in my life; my health, my family, and many others!

The mirror does not show our real selves. To others, we are very different from our reflections. Honestly, I see nothing beyond my body, the feel of it and movement, and the work I do.

Hein, I find, wrongly or rightly, that less intellectual or academic types invest more in their reflection, especially as seen by others. I do not here mean simply vanity. Vanity is an investment in parts of the body, not its whole. But this is or can be about the body and its separation from us.

Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak

a very respectable answer, thank you for your contribution, Hein

When looking in the mirror - depending on circumstances we think: "This is me?", or "Is it me"

Stanley Wilkin

a very beautiful and touching answer, Stanley, which I certainly have in mind when the obligatory or accidental look in the mirror is due. I assume that we all like to see our mirror image as normally developed children, adolescents, adults. Of course there are exceptions: Children who suffer from the peculiarity or deformity of the face, people with depression or in situations of despair. But otherwise the look in the mirror is a positive form of self-perception and self-affirmation, according to the scheme: Look, that's me! - This is a commitment to one's own person just as one likes to write one's own signature (supposedly the dearest thing one ever writes). I think that for people with self-reflection, the change that our body and face undergoes over the decades is also the object of reflection that triggers our morning or evening glance into the mirror. This consciousness "That's me! - and at the same time consciousness: But actually the exterior says nothing at all. My inner being is thus rather veiled. I certainly have such thoughts. "Vanity" is normal, I think, at a young age, when you try a hairstyle or a new outft. And vanity in old age I treat everyone. Anyway, I only see how "ugly" I really am. At the same time I think: Amazing that others have endured with me for so long. And finally I think: I'm not that bad, the picture even quite good, there's no better way.

Thanks for your contribution, Hein.

It would be nice if female participants took part in this discussion. Because perhaps they have completely different reactions and completely different feelings when looking in the mirror than women. Who has experience here? A good research topic.

Leonid V Vladimirov

It was probably a coincidence that your answer and my long answer were given at the same moment. This reaction, "that's me" is a basic reaction, at least of the men. Women may think differently about themselves. Could it be that their first reaction is: "Do I look good? I would also like to have a follower of this thread who says out of his own conviction: What a nice (beautiful, clever, sympathetic) person I am. Sometimes I think that of myself. But it's more doubt than conviction - and this ambivalence leads to an ironic reaction on my part. I do not dare to say: I am "good"! There is too much self-doubt. But I am happy when others can do that.

As Bobby Dylan would say: "The answer my friend is blowin in the wind" and also given in the pictures that i have attached. Could the answer be "the hand we choose" in exercising our "free will". For as Martin Luther King has stated "there is

good and evil in all of us.

I see myself in the mirror. So i cannot say i dont like what i see.

thanks, Al Fermelia, for your rich answering links. I hope our followers don't have to read all these links. What thesis should we discuss here? Thanks for your contribution, Hein

Excellent answer Reuben. Congratulations.

In fact we should be always ourselves.

It certainly depends upon what mood I am in. If I am in a happy or positive mood I am apt to say positive things about myself as I look at my virtual image in the mirror. However if I am worried or in a bad or sad mood then I am apt to view my image somewhat critically and with some skepticism.

I just tell myself : you are becoming an old man Rizk ... Then I ask myself :

Are you doing good ?

Are you stisfied with yourself ?

Are you happy with all what you‘re doing ?

Then I finish by telling myself that I have to be good and better , for me to be satisfied with all what I am doing already .

Rizk Elazhary

Sometimes I have the feeling that this is what an old man looks like. But I am - by chance - also an old man. A second thought that follows is sometimes. I could look much worse and I am happy that I can still smile. However, I have to make an effort. With age, the facial features freeze a bit and the many furrows don't make a face any younger either: but a smile for sure!

António Manuel Abreu Freire Diogo

I take your answer as confirmation of the answer Reuben gave, and I like to identify myself with it. But are there not also people who are at odds with themselves? Or people who are always a little dissatisfied with their appearance. Some people are annoyed by protruding ears, others are annoyed by a nose that is too big or something else in their own face. It is interesting to ask whether dissatisfaction with one's own appearance disappears after cosmetic surgery. The dissatisfaction with oneself can then also look at other aspects of one's own person critically.

I have the impression - but I like to be corrected - that women are more or less dissatisfied with their face when looking in the mirror: the lipstick is used, the eye area is cosmetically treated etc. Of course, this can also happen with men, but then we would perhaps rather suspect vanity than with the female sex, where the concern for appearance today is part of the social role - of course there are enough exceptions here as well.

Srini Vasan

I can understand that very well: that we think differently about ourselves in different situations. The mirror tells us what mood we are in at the moment. But often the mirror is for us the last control instrument over our appearance when we appear in public, with a lecture, an interview, etc. This is part of the role of the scientist, researcher and university lecturer.

When we look in the mirror and talk to ourselves, this moment is only a pause with ourselves to evaluate our situation and rearrange our positions, especially the wrong ones, because that moment , even if few, it is a rare moment that we do not lie to ourselves, moments of true honesty with ourselves

Rizk Elazhary

I appreciate your answer very much, and you can see from the many "recommends" that other followers think similarly. Thanks!

Thank you so much my dear professor Hein Retter .

and many thanks to all my dear respected colleagues who paticipted in this nice discussion and recommended my answer

Best Regards and Respect to all of you 🙏

Rizk Elazhary

thanks for your friendly words, mostly I get more critical statements than approval! But never mind.