Walkin' It - Looking in Your Eyes

Day to day, walking it.  Making like a freak, feeling like myself. I'd rather be unusual than be nothing at all.  When you walk through everyday life, and really look around, you notice things.  There are such crazy, beautiful things in life.  And tragedy, too.  Have you ever tried to go through one day, and try to actually MEET THE EYES of as many people as you can?  Really look into their eyes.  Hold the gaze as long as possible, until they look away.  OK, yeah - sometimes people clearly wonder why you're looking so long.  But you'll SEE things, and I don't just mean the color of their eyes.  You catch glimpses of their truth.  You'll see joy.  You'll see hope.  You'll see desperation.  Horror. HELP ME!  You see, most of us can put on a good show and make like everything's OK. But we have a hard time hiding the truth in our eyes.  This is an amazing way to connect with people. These little micro-moments are such beautiful little pictures of the truth, of reality, of what it feels like to be in the other person's shoes, for just a moment.

What I think is beautiful about this is that you end up connecting in ways and with people that you might not expect.  Let go of your judgment, your thoughts and opinions based on that person's appearance, where you're seeing them, the role they're playing.  You don't know how they got there, and why it feels the way it does.  But when you look into their eyes, with just "I'm here, you're here, we're OK" then it's amazing - you can really "touch" another person.  It's like a window opens to their soul, and you got a little glimpse.  Just look and offer in your eyes acceptance, and acknowledgment.

Give it a try sometime.  Just go for a walk.  Keep your head up, greet people you see.  Make eye contact.

SEE ME, I'M IN HERE, SOMEBODY FOR GOD'S SAKE TELL ME I'M OK, I'M NOT WORTHLESS, I DO MATTER, I'M NOT A FAILURE, I'M NOT UGLY, I REALLY CAN MAKE IT, THERE'S MORE TO ME THAN THIS! I LOVE YOU! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL! .....it's all going on in there, if you just LOOK.

I dare you.  What do YOU see?