Becoming your Caricature

You’ve seen caricature artists at carnivals, special events, and theme parks.  Most of these artists will, for a medium sized fee, draw a silly picture of you in the style of a cartoon.  You’ve also seen the political cartoons, which often feature less festive caricatures.

Imagine for a minute that you were to get an accurate depiction of yourself as a caricature.  In the true sense of a caricature, you are getting a bigger than life representation of yourself.  The drawings often emphasize physical features, but often they do something more.  They can connect with your feelings, your actions, or your perceptions.  They can be a representation of your true self as well.

Now imagine that for a single day, a caricature artist is going to follow you.  He’s going to watch your every move, see your interaction with others, and observe your behaviors.  He is going to draw a depiction of you in an accurate yet larger than life image.  But, you don’t know he’s there.  He’s doing this as a secret project, and you won’t know about it until the caricature is complete.

What will your Caricature look like?

As you ponder that, think about how you spend your time, how your thoughts and feelings mix, how your respond to and interact with others.  How would you like your caricature to look?

Is it going to be a version of you with a sour attitude and big frown?  Are you acting from a place of negativity?  Do you treat others poorly; do you put them down and always try to prove yourself as better than them?  Do you have a lot of hate in your heart?  Are you often sad?  Are you jealous of others and their accomplishments?  Are you quick to judge?

That artist is going to draw a dark and sinister version of you.  It may resemble the classic villain with the top hat and pointy pencil thin mustache.  It may resemble the old miser, greedy and vain.  A skilled artist will be able to depict the negativity in your soul with several skillful strokes of a pencil.  Your inner self will come alive on the page.  It will be a horrid wretched image.

On the other hand, maybe you go through your day happy and gleeful.  Smiling at everyone you pass, stopping to help an old lady cross the street.  Maybe you live by the golden rule and do to others as you would like them to do to you.  Perhaps you build others up and are thankful to have them in your life.  You might be full of happiness and have a heart full of joy.

This type of person will even bring joy to the artist as he happily arcs joyful lines across the page as the caricature is drawn.  The drawing will portray happiness with smiling eyes and rosy cheeks.  It may be a happy Santa type of picture.  Or it may be a joyful childlike image with big grins and a sparkle in the eye.  It’s certain to be pleasing to view and will surely bring a smile to your face just looking at it.

Becoming your Caricature

Now, consider this observation I have made over a number of years.  As people age, they become their caricatures. The big ears or oversized nose tends to become reality.  More important (or more alarming possibly) is that people tend to show their inner-selves more as they get older.  The frown lines turn to large frowning wrinkles.  The sad flops of skin and sagging eyes show a lifetime of sorrow and negativity.  While the laugh lines turn to happy indications of a lifetime of joy.  The sparkle in the eye of the ever happy old codger portrays the positive attitude held throughout a long and happy life.

Take a look around, sit down at the mall or the park and observe people walking by.  Are they happy?  Are they sad?  Can you tell just by looking at them?  Look at older folks and see if you can get a feel for what kind of life they have lived.  Look at the younger folks and see if you can imagine what they will look like when they are older.

Then think of yourself, what do you want your caricature (and your older self) to look like?  What impression do you want others to have of you at first glance?  Think of the other people sitting benches watching people; what do you want them to think of you as you walk past?  Begin to pay attention to your inner thoughts and your outward appearance.  The two are more closely linked than most people realize.

Tagged as: Emotions, Know yourself