Message #1 - Open Your Eyes!

Everywhere I look these days I see messages. Text Messages. Instant Messages. Tweets. So a while ago I started writing messages – to no one in particular. I think it’s time to begin sharing them.

Take a look around. There’s a lot you’re not seeing.

You see the bad stuff, the stuff you don’t like. That gets your attention. I didn’t say you live in the Garden of Eden. I know there’s garbage around. And of course you see and smell the crap. Nothing hard about that. You have a built-in natural ability to zero in on what bothers you. If you’re human it is in your DNA. But why give so much weight to what’s wrong?

At this point don’t jump to the wrong conclusion. Pollyanna is not my middle name. I’m not asking you to pretend that everything is perfect. I’m telling you to Open Your Eyes, to see what you’re not seeing. It’s all around you. It is, in fact, what you see most often, but it doesn’t show up on your radar screen. It has become invisible to you.

It’s life. It’s your life. And you’re not taking advantage of it. It’s passing you by, and you don’t even know it. Or to be more accurate, you’re passing it by and you don’t even know it.

You want some examples?

When was the last time you walked or drove down your block and saw the houses or stores that have been there since you moved in? The ones you’ve passed by a thousand times. Really saw them? Really looked at them?

Or the trees? Really saw them? Really looked at them?

Or the flowers? Really saw them? Really looked at them?

Or more importantly:

When was the last time you really looked at your child? Really saw his/her face as if for the first time?

Or really saw your wife/husband/partner/significant other/lover?

Or really looked at the other important people in your life?

And more:

When was the last time you really saw the stars? Or the moon?

Or really saw whatever may be close to you – the mountains? The sea? A field of corn or wheat?

When was the last time you really looked at whatever you would say if I asked you to tell me what you think is beautiful?

Open your eyes!

I remember the first time it dawned on me that I wasn’t really seeing what was right in front of my eyes. I was working in lower Manhattan, near City Hall. Almost every day I’d walk along Broadway on my way uptown or downtown. On one of those days, at lunchtime, I was headed somewhere. I was totally in my head, having a conversation with myself about something or other. And then, for no particular reason, I stopped.

I looked around. It was one of those unexpected moments when lightning strikes. Enlightenment descended on me. I realized that I had walked several blocks past some wonderful old richly decorated buildings and hadn’t seen them. Nor had I seen the people I’d passed, the store windows, the traffic – nothing. Had something been in my way or had I felt endangered, I would have snapped out of my reverie. I was a practicing member of the “Oblivious Walkers” club. And I’m sure my fellow pedestrians belonged to the same club.

So I was fixed, right? From then on I’d be one of the aware ones. And it can be the same for you, right? Wrong. The enlightenment phenomenon doesn’t persist. It goes away. You will forget. And in the blink of an unaware eye you will lapse. In less than the time it takes to say “oblivious,” you will again be oblivious.

Is it hopeless? No. Not if you remind yourself that your natural state is to be oblivious, and then start to see again. Repeated practice helps. From my living room I have a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge. A world-class view of a world-class icon. Yet, I’m embarrassed to admit that unless I intervene with myself I can go days without noticing it. So I have a practice. Every morning when I sit down to read the papers I remind myself to look out to see the bridge (or the fog that is covering it.) Most mornings I remember. But even after 20 years of practice I can easily forget.

This is about living life fully, being alive. Why would we not do that?

Try seeing what is familiar like you see what is unfamiliar in a new place, someplace you’ve never been before.

When you are in a new place you see with new eyes. Everything is unfamiliar. You pay attention. You are alert and hypersensitive. You are interested. Try looking at what you’ve seen many times before with these same new eyes. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ve been missing.

Open your eyes!