Distorted Self Image

Our self images are negatively distorted and we don’t even realize it. The above video is by no means a rigorous experiment, but an example of typical human psychology. It hints at the truth of self image psychology, which helped me immeasurably as a teenager. The self-help literature tree has a root. It originated in the work a german plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz who wrote Psychocybernetics.

All the big motivational gurus such as Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, and Brian Tracy have made their fortunes in large part by using Maltz's work. Dr. Maltz said that our personalities are defined by how we see ourselves, and more often than not we see ourselves as uglier and weaker than we truly are.  

Dalí and Maltz

Surgeon and Surrealist

As an interesting aside, the great surrealist Salvador Dalí was really into self-improvement and became a keen proponent of Psycho-cybernetics. Dali was so impressed upon discovering Maxwell's ideas was that he went on to paint and donate multiple works to the Maltz Foundation. The piece below illustrates what Psycho-Cybernetics meant to Dali.

Dali’s Painting of Psycho-cybernetics shows dual realms of human feelings, and the escape from an inner world of depression into sunlight