"Either seem as you are or be as you seem." - Mevlana (Rumi)

"Either seem as you are or be as you seem."
Mevlana (Rumi)

In Turkish:

"Ya olduğun gibi görün ya da göründüğün gibi ol."

So what Mevlana wants to say is that people should be honest with themselves and the rest of the world by presenting their true nature as it is, and their appearance and behavior should reflect their real thoughts.

This quote determined me to have a little one day experiment on my Facebook page. I asked my Facebook friends to tell me the first word that comes into their minds when they think of me. The result lead me to think that either I am not that popular, or the question was to weird for them because I only had 12 replies and some likes to some of the comments. I bet that some people think that this is one of my ways to feed my ego. They are partially true. I knew I will get some answers that will be viciously devoured by my self esteem, but don't tell me you don't get moved by compliments because I won't believe it. I was also curious of how people perceive me. Here it is:

This little experiment finally showed me that the persons that replied know me, or better said they perceive me in a way that reflects my character or parts of it. I was very happy. So the question now is: is it that they learned to read me, or is it me the one that presented herself in a way that she could recognize herself from an anonymous description of one of those people? I would answer that there can't be one without the other.

Understanding others comes from understanding ourselves. 

One can read the impression he/she has on others from just one word even if that word is apparently related to the physical appearance. You don't need to study psychology. All of this comes from reason and from intuition that comes from experience. 

There is always room from improvement.

Look at yourself carefully and honestly analyze yourself. Restrain your vanity from attacking and have a sincere talk with you. You will find a wide range of emotions, many of those you would like to have hidden. Some are harmful and some can be food for a brighter ego, a better self esteem. Don't choose out of  fear, vanity or comfort, but choose which of these emotions you want to help grow so they can also help you develop into the person you want to be and that you would be proud to present to the world.

Be courageous and don't give up.

Have faith that there is at least one person that will in all ways accept you for who you truly are. Even if there is just one don't give up because if you are happy with yourself then appreciation of others will follow even from people you would not expect.

The greatest work of our lives is self-development.

Never stop putting effort in your self-development. Widen your range of emotions as much as possible and continuously try to learn new things. Still don't forget to keep it real. Don't do unnecessary things that will not bring real value to your life.

So what about trying this experiment for yourselves and see how others see you?
Good luck friends!