Hey everyone!
So I work as a lifestyle photographer and over the years, I’ve seen how photography very quickly exposes all three elements of the self-limiting triad - emotional insecurities, fear of rejection, and negative self-beliefs.
Many of us allow the visualizations of our self-perception to cultivate lies that add mental clutter to our lives. This, of course, is coming from personal experience.
I’m also wholeheartedly against the construct of photogenicity. It literally changes as our self-perception evolves. So it’s a useless construct to ever allow breed in our minds.
The key is to learn how to accept how we look and who we are in this world. Easier said than done, yes.
That’s where the mindful practice of self-portraiture comes in.
Over the last 2-3 years, I’ve taken many self-portraits like the one above. I continue to shoot them even if I don’t intend to upload them because I gain so much from this mindful practice. Here are a few of them:
I don’t need to rely on others to help me document my life.
I learned to observe photos of myself more and judge them less.
I understand how to accept whatever comes through on the screen.
Not being photogenic is a lie I made myself believe.
It made me a more empathetic photographer.
Self-portraits (or selfies) have the power to reduce self-limitations that stem from negative self-perception. Yes, that’s a lot of selfs but unless you believe in non-self (that’s for another newsletter), doing anything to strengthen the self will improve many things around us.
We often tend to avoid our existence, if that makes sense. And we need to always be reminded of who we are and how we look. This will allow us to judge less, observe more and just accept who we are.
And if you just don’t feel like taking photos, make sure you do something that reflects your existence. Take videos, make voice notes of your thoughts, journal and draw what’s on your mind.
Keep being mindful of your time here and we can live more meaningfully together.
Have an amazing week ahead!
Arun
If you found this useful, please do share it with your friends and on your socials. Thank you!
This week’s podcast:
In this episode, I speak to Tash Binnie, a medical student at King's College London. We cover topics surrounding mental health for students and how she works on her mental health as well.
Check it out on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.
About Me
My name is Arun and I'm a 4th-year medical student at King's College London. I'm also a certified personal trainer and lifestyle photographer.
Connect with me on Instagram and Twitter for more!
For thoughts about this newsletter, please drop an email at hello@arunjayaraj.com
Arun, your articles are too good to read and prompting us to have an introspection of self