How is it betterment is achieved?

Is it only through conscious

recalculation of ones ways of thought or actions?

Or can it be as simple as surrounding or immersing

yourself in the presence of others who offer,

by their very attitudes or character,

a way to automatically assimilate the improved self.

Is introspection in any way a tool?

Can it lead to betterment?

Can the gain of knowledge of oneself

truly alter the understanding of

the actions one takes?

And thereby an unconscious push

made to make progressively positive moves.

The thing that must be realized is which reality you live in.

Whether it is your own reality,

or the reality of other’s perceptions.

“The physical image in the mirror,

if not pleasing, can be altered

by the mere brush of fingers

through the hair”

As it must be just as easy to

change ones personal image.

Yet it is not.

Is it unrecognized resistance to

any kind of change at all, inner or outer?

Or that every time you want to make a

change, your earlier resolve or pledge

is not remembered.

Whether by just plain forgetfulness,

or by an unconscious effort of repression.

I hope it is the former.

In fact I believe it is the former.

Yet it would seem it is just as hard

to remember as it is to forget.

And yet, time only helps one to forget.

I  used to think that

who I was and who I wanted to be

were merely two sides of the same coin.

Now I realize the true depth of my folly.

Here I view myself as who I am:

real, tangible, here now.

And I view who I want to be:

the half-formed image in my 

mind, as real as any fantasy can be.