Man in the mirror.
There's this one song that always makes me cry. Not from sadness, it just hits a tender spot inside me ever since I was a child. And it is always at exactly the same point in the song.
I read somewhere that it might have to do with the specific frequency the song is broadcast at. That it's a frequency intentionally designed to move you. Whether that's literally and scientifically true or not, I can't say. I just knów, by felt experience.
The song is 'Man in the Mirror'. Yes, Michael Jackson.
Me and my family were húge fans back in the day. Always with the VCR ready to record stuff off TV. Scrapbooks full of clippings. Dancing and singing to his music all day long. We even went as a whole family to the 'Bad'-concert in Rotterdam in 1988, us small children still. (Thank you, mum and dad! Pretty epic memories!)
There was a period where I lost touch with MJ for a little while. I did not feel his newer music the way it moved me before, and of course there were all those allegations. But I cried the morning I quickly checked the news at work and saw that he'd passed away.
I am still a huge fan. I LOVE his music. The man was special, for so many people, and still is.
(We even did our opening dance at our wedding on a MJ-choreography. Ambitious, yes. No video footage available. Yep, this story gets weirder and weirder.)
Anyway. This story isn't about Michael Jackson as a person. This is about his song 'Man in the Mirror'.
Even now, every time I hear this song, and that choir kicks in around 2.50 minutes, I well up. I can't help it. It's like a button in me that just goes pooof.
Why does it get me like that, ever since it was released in 1987? (almost 40 years ago already, aaargh!)
Because the message couldn't be more on point.
It all starts and ends with you. How you meet the world. How much of your power you give away. How much love you put out in the world. What you stand up for. How you help others. Nature. Animals. Yourself.
We're living in strange times. You can love someone deeply and still be standing on completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. Or at least, that's how it looks. Why? Because every single topic has been politicised. And every last bit of nuance has been scrubbed out of every debate, by media working on behalf of politicians and NGO's. Everything is framed.
Easy, right? That's exactly how they want us: at each other's throats.
We fight each other, or we don't dare to speak up, while at the top, the puppet masters keep playing their divide and conquer games while getting filthy rich.
All of them. Not just the ones the mainstream labels as 'the bad guys'. All of them.
And good luck navigating your way through all of that. You can't just trust what you see and hear anymore. Something might be completely one-sided. It might be AI.
Our media and politicians feed this. Even school textbooks feed this. Our history books feed this. Fake news comes from every corner and is as old as the world. Google is trained, AI is trained, factcheckers are trained. Things aren't what they seem. Everything is upside down. Total chaos, yes.
How do we deal with this? How do we even keep up? So much is happening, everything moves so fast. Do we even need to keep up?
Are we built for this overload of information as human beings? Can we carry this continuous all consuming weight? I don't have the answer. Everyone has to figure that out for themselves.
What we all cán do is look at ourselves. The man in the mirror.
And change the only person you actually cán change: yourself. By being a good person. Showing compassion, but also protecting the people around you, your inner circle. Setting boundaries. Keeping your power with you. Protecting your freedom. Taking responsibility. Knowing yourself really, really well.
Using your discernment and your intuition as the golden standard instead of any expert, factchecker or news outlet whatsoever.
I have thought about this a lot. I've experienced firsthand how fast you can be painted in a bad light, even when you genuinely mean well and feel concerned.
No matter if you are trying to do the right thing, you are going to rub someone the wrong way on some point. But if you're coming from a rock-solid foundation, you can handle that without being triggered. Grounded. Calm. Powerful. You can weather the storm. Of criticism, framing. People who push against your limits. People trying to put you in a box.
It will bother you a lot less. It might still sting, but at the end of the day, it's clear. Your inner radar for nonsense and fake news gets sharper than any screaming news source out there.
So my contribution to these complicated times will be about as basic as it gets. I'm not the last person to climb the barricades when it's really needed. But it can all be even simpler than that.
Going back to yourself. Back to your core. Your spark. Your strength. Your light.
That level of finetuned and steady uniqueness can't be labeled.
Left or right. Good or bad. Black or white. Pro or contra. Good luck trying to label 8 billion unique flavours and colours, all of them knowing themselves deeply. You simply can't divide them or turn them against each other.
So put on Man in the Mirror, turn the volume up, sing along as loud as you can, and feel what it does to you. What inspired thoughts come up.
And then come find me. Because this is exactly what I work on with people.
Love, Annemarijn
Lyrics Man in the mirror
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart
Then you close your mind
Just lift yourself, you know
You've got to start with yourself
I've got to be that man,
You got to move
You got to stand up and lift yourself now