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How do your eyes look at the world around you?
Do you see the world through eyes on offense or eyes on defense? Do your eyes look at the world with a sense of fear, anger and criticism? Do your eyes betray a sense of always being on guard, or do they project a more gentle, welcoming curiosity?
Have you ever noticed how your eyes feel in any given moment?
Do they feel soft and at ease? Or do they feel tense and rigid?
Our emotional and physical bodies are intricately interconnected. Whatever is happening in our hearts and minds effects our physicality.
Take a moment and focus your attention on your eyes. How do they feel as you are reading this? Can you find a connection between the tension or relaxation and your current state of mind?
It is a good idea to check in with your eyes from time to time to see what kind of an emotional state they are in, particularly if you are someone who is interested in becoming a better person in your daily life. We can use markers like this to improve self-awareness, and make changes as needed.
There is meaning in the adage “the eyes are the windows to the soul.”
Because the eyes don’t lie.
They reveal our true nature, despite our efforts to project a curated image to the world around us.
The eyes are a walking biography in some ways. Outsiders can look into someone’s eyes and read the stories of their lives, if they look deeply enough.
In a similar manner, one’s soul is revealed in the manner in which they look at the world around them.
Experts say the following markers could be indicators of what is termed the psychopathic stare:
- a coldness, with a lack of warmth, empathy or compassion
- wide-eyed, with more of the white of the eye showing
- reduced blinking
- a focus that feels predatory or threatening
- dilated pupils
- heightened intensity
- eye contact or “fixation” held for longer
I don’t have hard data on this, but I am guessing in our technological age, when people are looking at screens all day and engaging with people through artificial means, the depth of soul revealed in one’s eyes suffers. I have noticed, for example, some people who spend large amounts of times on devices, having less of an ability to engage in and hold expressive eye contact while speaking with other humans.
As we continue navigating daily life in our broken world, it is easy to think that we have no control over the tide shifting in a more benevolent direction. But that is not true. We have agency over the choices we make each day, and whether we are going to make choices that contribute to a gentler environment or something even more chaotic. Little choices lead to big changes.
One of these elemental choices is paying attention to our eyes, and other parts of our bodies and what they might reveal to our outer world about what is going on in our inner world.
Because if our eyes consistently project negativity and aggression, those things will come back at us. But if they project positivity, ease and gentleness, they will have a multiplicative effect on the world around us and ourselves.
The choice is ours.
How do your eyes look at the world around you?
SPIRIT MATTERSis a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.