The Mirror Never Lies
By Kateb Nuri-Alim Shunnar
Ever look in the mirror and really see yourself? Not just your reflection the features you’ve memorized over the years but you. The person behind the eyes. The soul beneath the skin.
It’s not easy, is it? We’re good at avoiding that level of honesty. We stay busy. We drown ourselves in distractions. We measure ourselves against what society tells us matters money, status, approval. But none of that scratches the surface of who we really are. It’s just noise.
"Let a man examine himself."
Not the world. Not his past. Not the people who wronged him. Himself.
That’s where it gets uncomfortable. Because true self-examination means stripping away the layers of excuses, the justifications, the carefully crafted image. It means asking the hard questions the ones we usually run from.
What are you carrying that’s been weighing you down?
Is it resentment disguised as strength? Wounds so deep they’ve become part of your identity? Fear hidden behind a mask of confidence?
Maybe it’s the bitterness you pretend isn’t there. Or the silent anger that sneaks into your words, your actions, your thoughts. Maybe it’s the sadness you keep pushing down because facing it feels too heavy.
And sometimes, those burdens aren’t even ours to carry.
Many of us are still dragging around the weight of our childhood the echoes of what we didn’t get, what we endured, what shaped us in ways we’re still trying to undo.
Maybe you grew up in a house where love was scarce, where affection was something you had to earn. Maybe you had religious parents who only taught rules but never modeled grace. Or maybe you had parents who weren’t present at all always working, always tired, always emotionally unavailable.
Some of us were raised in chaos domestic violence, verbal abuse, emotional neglect. We saw addiction up close. We felt the instability of a broken home. We learned early that love could be conditional, that affection could be inconsistent, that survival sometimes meant silence.
And that leaves a mark.
Maybe you never saw your father pamper your mother. Maybe you never saw your mother extend grace to your father when he made mistakes. You recorded that in your memory without realizing it, and now, as an adult, love feels foreign to you. When someone treats you well, it feels suspicious. When someone loves you without conditions, it makes you uneasy. You don’t know how to receive it, react to it, or give it in return.
Because no one showed you how.
So you built walls instead of bridges. You learned to protect instead of trust. You became someone who questions kindness, who flinches at love, who pulls away before anyone gets too close.
But here’s the truth: you don’t have to carry what they gave you.
Yes, it shaped you. Yes, it hurt. But at some point, you have to decide will you let it define you? Or will you set it down and step into something new?
Healing doesn’t mean pretending it didn’t happen. It means looking at it, understanding it, and choosing not to let it control you anymore. It means breaking cycles, rewriting narratives, and giving yourself the love, grace, and stability you may have never received.
So, take a breath. Be still. Let the Spirit reveal what needs to be seen. It might be uncomfortable. It might sting. But the truth the real, unfiltered truth is the beginning of transformation.
And you? You deserve that freedom.
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