Is That Re-pose, or Repose?

I was reading something today that got me thinking.  (Always a good idea for a Monday morning.)

The article was talking about the "skill" of repose--by which the author meant being at ease in front of others.  This is not necessarily the usual meaning of the word.  It can also mean "at rest," and "freed from activity."  But what the author meant was being in a state of calm and rest, free from anxiety or nervous movements, even while being watched, or in public.

We all want to be at our best in public.  This is why mirrors, clothing, and double-mint gum were invented.

But the author had noticed that people in public often fidget with their clothing, adjust a sandal strap, fiddle with their hair, or sit up straighter when they think someone is looking.  The author wanted to gain the ability to be so comfortable in front of others that he didn't feel the need to do those things.

Like you might at home, or with someone whose love and acceptance you never question.

We should all have a few places (home) where and people (Mom) with whom we feel that comfortable.

But what if we became so comfortable with ourselves that wherever we were, or whomever we were with, we felt that repose, that ability to be at rest from self-consciousness.  What if we could make what we know of our current selves so acceptable to ourselves that we never worried? 

What if, instead of posing for others--which is really what we tend to do whether we are in front of a camera or not--we were at repose among others?

I think that would take a self-love, and a pristine self-knowledge and trust of ourselves that I agree are seldom reached. And, since none of us can be perfect, it would likely require of us a broader self-acceptance.

We often compare the worst we know about ourselves against the best we perceive in others, and that is why we are self-conscious.

But, what if what we knew about ourselves was so above reproach that we wouldn't mind others knowing it, either? What if we cleaned up our bad habits, and the messes we've left behind us?  What if we self-developed so mindfully that everything we did had a purpose of which we could be proud and comfortable?

Or, what if we took the magnifying glass off our our own warts and turned the lens to look at others?  That might be another way to avoid self-consciousness--to think of ourselves hardly at all.

Profound love of ourselves, and/or profound love of others.

Or, reverting back to an age before we knew shame.  Which some of us accidentally do, too.