There’s an in-born instinct in everyone for self-improvement. Watch what happens when you stand in front of a mirror! Each time you stand in front of a reflector, unconsciously self-examination and analysis begins; and you want to start self-improvement.

It symbolizes that something in you wants to get better; you have this instinct to improve. You want to look your best; you want to make sure that everything is okay, so you look into the mirror to see if there are last minute changes. As you’re walking through the door, you look; we all do it; one last glance just to be sure. That impulse is instilled in all of us.

All this notwithstanding, I’ve learnt from God that what I need is not self-improvement. What I need is self-discovery. Because the moment you discover yourself, you experience metamorphosis.

Recently, someone told me a story that illustrates this point. She said, “I was passing by the mirror in my house recently. I saw a beautiful figure beaming back at me. I had to stop in my tracks and suddenly it dawned on me that I am beautiful!”

Now what happened was that somehow for the first time in her life she saw a full sized mirror. Before now, she used a half sized mirror that allowed her to see just her face. So for the first time I her life, she saw her figure in a full length mirror and she was enamored by what she saw.

But that’s not the end of the story. I noticed from that day, she became a new person.  The realization that she was beautiful changed a lot about her life. She metamorphosed. She had experienced self-discovery.

The truth is that if she hadn’t seen that for herself, no amount of “you’re beautiful” would have created that level of change that she executed on herself.

You don’t need to improve what you look like; you need to see what you look like. Because when you see what you really look like you don’t try anymore, you just become.