Open book!

I have heard people say that they are like an open book. Wait, I myself have said this few times. Though we all know that it's just a figure of speech, we shall put it to test purely for the sake of testing.

Inside each one of us there are few things that are good which we don't mind letting others know as they are self serving. As a matter of fact we either consciously or subconsciously try to make it known to the world followed by the famous tag line "I am like an open book". But once those things,change their shades from plain white to gray and further into dark, our so called open books get closed and at one point of time becomes air tight, a scenario that can no more be claimed to be an open book. :-)

It's like a series of circles around a centre which we have drawn in our minds. We let everybody into our outermost circle without any inhibitions. But as we proceed towards the centre, the people we allow into our inner circles becomes lesser and lesser. I guess, lot of variables such as our previous experiences, our comfort level, our likes and dislikes etc play a part in letting us decide who stays inside which circle.As a matter of fact after a particular point we ourselves are afraid to get into the innermost circle as it constitutes our darker side full of fears, colossal blunders, failures and what not. That chapter in our book is left untouched for most of our lives.

I think any problem that arises in any relationship is simply due to the mismatch of perceptions between the perceiver and the perceived. Let's take X & Y.
X puts Y in an outer circle where he thinks his obligations to Y are very limited, whereas Y may assume that he is in an inner circle of Y in which case he thinks he is at liberty with X. Result is an inadvertent friction and we all know where friction leads to!

I think in the end this mismatch in perception can only be wiped out by opening ones book wide open to ones near and dear ones atleast. The first step towards that goal is to assess ourselves and ask ourselves one simple question. "Is my life really an open book?"