--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's very hard to look in a mirror and…" description: "\"It's very hard to look in a mirror and see anything which resembles what one feels one's self to be. I think that discomfort, that dislocation, disinte..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dac/jorie-graham-25513_feeling_it-s-very-hard-to-look-in-a-mirror-and-s_204217.jpg" --- # It's very hard to look in a mirror and see anything which… ![“It's very hard to look in a mirror and see anything which resembles what one feels one's self to be. I think that discomfort, that dislocation, disintegration - that raw lack of feeling whole - that dysmorphia - is a very good place, in this moment, to hunt for the kind of experience which really…” quote by Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dac/jorie-graham-25513_feeling_it-s-very-hard-to-look-in-a-mirror-and-s_204217.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dac/jorie-graham-25513_feeling_it-s-very-hard-to-look-in-a-mirror-and-s_204217.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dac/jorie-graham-25513_feeling_it-s-very-hard-to-look-in-a-mirror-and-s_204217.jpg) > “It's very hard to look in a mirror and see anything which resembles what one feels one's self to be. I think that discomfort, that dislocation, disintegration - that raw lack of feeling whole - that dysmorphia - is a very good place, in this moment, to hunt for the kind of experience which really requires the means of poetry to be grasped or felt.” [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Feeling disconnected from oneself can be unsettling, yet it can also inspire a deep search for meaning through poetic expression. **In simple terms:** Discomfort can lead to poetic insight. Key Takeaway Embrace discomfort, seek poetic truth. Themes identity discomfort creativity Mood introspective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - therapy sessions - artistic creation - personal crisis Key Concepts existentialism self‑reflection poetry Questions to Reflect On - What does your discomfort reveal about your inner self? - How can poetry help you process this feeling? A Different Perspective Poetry may not resolve the underlying distress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dysmorphia Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dysmorphia-good-2125650/) [Feeling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeling/) [Feeling Dysmorphia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeling-dysmorphia-2125649/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Feels Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels-self-300748/) [Good place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-place/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Think Discomfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-discomfort-487324/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Very good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very-good/) ## Related quotes > [No-one really feels self-confident deep down because it's an artificial idea. 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You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-brand/it-s-difficult-to-believe-in-yourself-because-the-idea-of-self-is-an/) [Russell Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-brand/) > [The more a human being feels himself a self, tries to intensify this self and reach a never-attainable perfection, the more drastically he steps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugen-herrigel/the-more-a-human-being-feels-himself-a-self-tries-to-intensify-this/) [Eugen Herrigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugen-herrigel/) > [I was feeling privileged and self-conscious about my life as a musician, which feels self-absorbed. I can't help it, I am a musician. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufjan-stevens/i-was-feeling-privileged-and-self-conscious-about-my-life-as-a/) [Sufjan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufjan-stevens/) > [No-one really feels self-confident deep down becuase it's an artifical idea. 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Fagbenle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-t-fagbenle/) > [“Think of discomfort as currency- it's the price you pay to learn some pretty crucial things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lilly-singh/think-of-discomfort-as-currency-it-s-the-price-you-pay-to-learn-some/) [Lilly Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lilly-singh/) > [I think the discomfort that some people feel in going to the monkey cages at the zoo is a warning sign.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/i-think-the-discomfort-that-some-people-feel-in-going-to-the-monkey/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [I violated, apparently, an unspoken rule that we are supposed to take care of our own. 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And I think this is why I'm achieving what I've been asking to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riccardo-tisci/i-think-my-heart-is-in-a-very-good-place-and-i-think-this-is-why-i-m/) [Riccardo Tisci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riccardo-tisci/) > [So let's start at the very begining (a very good place to start...)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-st-james/so-let-s-start-at-the-very-begining-a-very-good-place-to-start/) [James St. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-st-james/) > [We all learned in kindergarten that the beginning is a very good place to start. As we have this debate on illegal immigration and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsha-blackburn/we-all-learned-in-kindergarten-that-the-beginning-is-a-very-good/) [Marsha Blackburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsha-blackburn/) > [Come to think of it, Pasadena's as good a place to die as any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tolkin/come-to-think-of-it-pasadena-s-as-good-a-place-to-die-as-any/) [Michael Tolkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tolkin/) ## More by Jorie Graham > [The way things work / is that eventually / something catches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/the-way-things-work-is-that-eventually-something-catches/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [Brilliant, hard-earned and honest. The erasures and reappearances of figure and ground-that hard drama-have rarely been so movingly undertaken. A heartbreakingly beautiful work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/brilliant-hard-earned-and-honest-the-erasures-and-reappearances-of/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [“the feeling of being a digression not the link in the argument, a new direction, an offshoot, the limb going on elsewhere, and liking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/the-feeling-of-being-a-digression-not-the-link-in-the-argument-a-new/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [“This is freedom. This is the face of faith, nobody gets what they want. Never again are you the same. 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Some have written that I wanted to expand what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/i-wanted-to-pack-a-lot-into-the-lyric-but-not-go-beyond-its-bounds/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [These are crystalline - oftentimes incandescent - translations of Juarroz's powerful metaphysical poems where eternity and silence jut up against a world where “writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/these-are-crystalline-oftentimes-incandescent-translations-of-juarroz/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [The storm: I close my eyes and, standing in it, try to make it mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/the-storm-i-close-my-eyes-and-standing-in-it-try-to-make-it-mine/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [“This is freedom. This is the force of faith. Nobody gets what they want. Never again are you the same. The longing is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/this-is-freedom-this-is-the-force-of-faith-nobody-gets-what-they-want/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [What poetry can, must, and will always do for us: it complicates us, it doesn’t ‘soothe.’](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/what-poetry-can-must-and-will-always-do-for-us-it-complicates-us-it/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [Oh how we want to be taken and changed, want to be mended by what we enter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/oh-how-we-want-to-be-taken-and-changed-want-to-be-mended-by-what-we/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [There are moments in our lives which, threaded, give us heaven—](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/there-are-moments-in-our-lives-which-threaded-give-us-heaven/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) > [Water is a miracle - it takes so many forms - is the core of life - is holy. So it becomes important to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorie-graham/water-is-a-miracle-it-takes-so-many-forms-is-the-core-of-life-is-holy/) [Jorie Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) [Explore all 23 Jorie Graham quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorie-graham/) ## More Feeling quotes > [Being betrayed by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-betrayed-by-the-one-you-love-is-the-worst-feeling-in-the-world/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My feeling has always been that 'Good Eats' would have never happened had it been left to a committee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-brown/my-feeling-has-always-been-that-good-eats-would-have-never-happened/) [Alton Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-brown/) > [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/) [Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/) > [Tryna hide this pain with these pain killers, she said the storms only will last a little while but shit it got me feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myself/tryna-hide-this-pain-with-these-pain-killers-she-said-the-storms-only/) [Myself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myself/) > [If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-siebel-newsom/if-the-media-is-sending-girls-the-message-that-their-value-lies-in/) [Jennifer Siebel Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-siebel-newsom/) > [Hate not knowing when things are going to happen feeling different every single day. It is called LIFE…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-valdovinos/hate-not-knowing-when-things-are-going-to-happen-feeling-different/) [Stephanie Valdovinos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-valdovinos/) > [The best feeling comes when you realise, that you are perfectly happy without the things, once you thought you needed the most…!!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-best-feeling-comes-when-you-realise-that-you-are-perfectly-happy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I love transforming myself constantly because it gives me that 'new' feeling that I'm very much addicted to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-mondo/i-love-transforming-myself-constantly-because-it-gives-me-that-new/) [Brad Mondo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-mondo/) > [I have to feel the audience. 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He was feeling his way through it more than I was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-thewlis/i-don-t-think-alfonso-was-a-big-expert-on-potter-either-he-was/) [David Thewlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-thewlis/) > [The most difficult part for me is feeling connected to the people that I love but always being on the go to different places.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-franti/the-most-difficult-part-for-me-is-feeling-connected-to-the-people/) [Michael Franti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-franti/) [Browse all 8,809 Feeling quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeling/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's very hard to look in a mirror and see anything which resembles what one feels one's self to be. 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