Wisdom Workout

0
587

Ways of Seeing

Susan Velasquez

I moved to Laguna Beach back in 1986 because this is a small town with big opportunities for involvement in a community lifestyle.

This week, I stopped by the Wyland Gallery and met someone new to me. Krissie Marriner is a beautiful woman with a sparkling smile. She wore a bright purple shirt that made me rethink the notion that purple isn’t my color. I told her how great it looked on her and she confessed that she is more enamored with blue. That got us started. We reminisced about Marriners Stationer’s when it was on Forest Avenue.  She loved owning it and I loved being a customer.

I started thinking about how Krissie wasn’t crazy about her purple shirt but her purple shirt loved her. How the color attracted my eye. How I happened to have an eye for beauty that day.  What if I was in a different mood? Would I have missed that enjoyable opportunity to connect?

That got me thinking about the idea that our eyes could be viewed like a sophisticated camera that has many different lenses. The lens in use determines what we see and how distant or intimate we are with the world.

We can become so familiar with our world, that we don’t see it anymore. Let’s take our time this week to look at seven different ways of seeing.

I’ll start with six ways that create distance. The first one is fear. To the fearful eye, everything is threatening. When you greet life in a fearful way, all you can see is what can potentially damage or threaten you.

To the judgmental eye, everything is categorized as good, bad, right, and wrong. It is always excluding or separating, and therefore, it has trouble seeing in a compassionate or appreciative way. The judgmental lens is equally harsh with self and has a hard time forgiving anyone or anything.

The resentful eye looks out toward others begrudgingly. Everyone is more beautiful, or richer, than themselves. The resentful eye lives in poverty and resists accepting its own gifts.

The next lens is greed. When greedy-eyed, we get stuck loving things and using people. The greedy eye tries to get joy from possessions, but nothing is ever enough. It has an insatiable hunger and is always haunted by what it can’t possess.

To the indifferent eye, nothing is worth involvement. Indifference is sometimes used to shun and hold control over others. Indifference has the ability to sneak up on you, making you numb and out of touch. When you are indifferent, your imagination becomes frozen in the limbo of cynicism.

To the inferior eye, everyone else is greater than you. Others are more brilliant, beautiful, and blessed than you. The inferior eye is blind to its own beauty.

When we look someone in the eye, it is a validation of truth, courage, and innocent curiosity. To the loving eye, everything is alive and real. The loving look creates a climate of connection and inclusion.

When we can look at the world through the lens of love, then we can rise to meet a world of new possibilities. The loving eye can look lovingly upon anything. The loving eye sees through and beyond the superficial image. The loving lens is capable of effecting deep change in how we view our world.

How you see your world is central to your creativity. Exploring diverse ways of seeing can enable you to glimpse more of the wonderful treasures your life secretly holds.

When you gaze lovingly at someone or something, you embrace it. There is spirituality, and holiness, available to us when we adjust our eyes through the lens of love. Adopting a look of love can allow you to drink from the well of vibrant, lively energy that can fill you with renewed vitality and wellbeing.

 

Susan offers local workshops on the Dynamics of Intuition and is the author of: Beyond Intellect: Journey Into the Wisdom of Your Intuitive Mind. Learn more at http://www.susanvelasquez.com, http://www.beyondintellect  or (949) 494-7773.

Share this:

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here