While searching for quotes to share for this blog, I was struck by this one from Katherine Mansfield: “Ah, what happiness it is to be with people who are all happy, to press hands, press cheeks, smile into eyes.”
Her quote hit me hard because we're now living in a whole new reality where there is no cheek pressing, handholding or friendly hugging.
The freedom to enjoy the closeness that we once took for granted has changed.
“The pandemic pause,” I reason to myself, “will one day lift and shift us again.” For now though, no more buffets, dinner parties or airline travel for anyone who’s high risk. No more hugging my adult students who are instead Zooming to class, or seeing my grown children in California and Colorado. No more dilly-dallying in the aisles of Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, scouting out new products that will tantalize my taste buds.
I will miss the sheer fun of trying the newest shades of lipstick at the makeup counter at the mall. I don’t expect to go clothes shopping anytime soon – since I’m not currently affording myself the luxury of trying on clothes that are hanging on racks that others have sampled. Nope, that’s not happening here, but I am sensing there’s a new way of being in the world.
Time to shift from what we're not doing to what we can do!
People are now venturing back outside; maybe to the pool, the market, the outdoor café, or the patio at a friend’s home. My neighbor announced, “I got Botox yesterday and another friend went to the salon for a haircut. We’re doing more than we have in months.”
Many things have changed, such as excessive handwashing, sanitizing, physical distancing, and moving about like a Marine on a mission when inside stores and shopping for essentials. Now the CDC has recommended use of masks along with all of the above. What remains to be seen, while masked, are our eyes...
Christoph Kayser wrote in the April 2007 edition of Scientific American Mind, “Listening with Your Eyes: To perceive the world as a whole, our five senses have to team up in the brain – and in some cases, they actually seem to fuse with one another.”
I was captured by the idea of listening with the eyes.
Call me a cockeyed optimist, and you’d be right. I’m always on the lookout for the best outcomes. (Did you notice the two puns? LOL :)
So here’s the shift: The eyes are referred to as the window to the soul, and that gives us a unique opportunity to connect with others as we’re moving about in this new reality.
Did you know that two-thirds of all communication is nonverbal? Leadership consultants advise us to look at the eyes to see if there is congruence between what is being said and what is being expressed. We intuitively know when someone says they’re happy, but their eyes don’t match their words – we can feel their dissonance.
I’m wearing a mask outside; mouth and nose are covered, yet the eyes alert.
Grrrr, the masks are hot and slip and are controversial and sometimes scary.
My intention is to offer a few vital pieces of information
to help make the best of what we’ve got,
and create a happy way to go out again.
1) When you venture out with your eyes wide open, begin from a warm, congruent place in your heart. Enter the world feeling present, aware, energetically protected, and focus on completing your outside experiences safely.
2) Let your eyes connect. Touch the world and others from the source of your true being. See if you can take in the beauty of the sky as you’re walking to the store, and hold your head high as you look out. Bring your best self and see the best in others. Leave your critic in the car and enter each environment with fresh eyes.
3) What you are looking for, you will see more of – so follow this three-step guide. Get Grounded. Be Confident. Protect and Connect. Remember, your eyes, glistening over your mask, are the window to your soul.
We can do this! One day at a time….
Let’s make June bloom, like the lotus flower of enlightenment, as we open our minds, hearts and eyes to see the soul of our new world.
Quotes Worth Quoting
“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung