In today’s Mid Week Mindful Moment let’s take a minute to look deep into our own eyes. Yep, grab your phone and put it in selfie mode if you have to, but take a deep breath, and take a deep look into your very own eyes. It is totally normal to feel uncomfortable. Our mirror image is the only time we can look outside of ourselves and read the mind of someone we “see.”
Of all of the selfies that we’ve taken of ourselves, how often did we stop to look into our eyes? To notice that we are an actual person? To not rip apart our egos and spirits while deleting what wasn’t pleasing? How often have we projected our bad days onto other people? “Don’t they know that I like to drive 5, 10, 15 miles over the speed limit? Don’t they know that I’m hangry and that they are somewhat deserving of my judgement and attitude?” It’s pretty easy to be unfeeling, rude or downright disrespectful to a stranger.
Have you’ve heard the Zen proverb, “How you do one thing is how you do everything?” How about, “How you treat others is how you treat yourself,” Deborah Adele. Ooh, that one stung a little when I read it.
What are we, as a nation, doing to be more respectful to ourselves? Are we just going through the motions in life? Are we not taking the time to drop kindness into our own bucket? Are we doing what we want to do or do we believe it’s too late to change? Are we beating ourselves up for the past that cannot be changed? Are we so tired of living that life’s just not fun anymore? Are we sick, tired and uninspired? I’m sure that last sentence was said by someone, but I am not sure who it was.
Are we willing to find some time to start with ourselves? To take some time to look into our very own eyes? Are we willing to finally recognize that we have value, we are worth it and that we can do anything we put our minds to? Or to give our dreams merit? Maybe investing in seeing ourselves so well that we have soul recognition. Could it be possible to be nice to…ourselves? To put some effort into creating a healthy mental outlook? To put some weight on the other side of the scale and keep life balanced? In my opinion it’s not all about being first or being the best. To me it’s about taking the time to fill my cup so I can fill another’s. If we have to start somewhere, we can only start with ourselves and stop treating ourselves like strangers.
Namaste. Janay-
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