We See What We Want to See

We see what we want to see.

Have you ever had the experience of suddenly noticing something for the first time, even though you drive the same route to work every day? If that building was not built overnight or that tree and garden did not get planted over night, then what accounts for the sudden appearance of this thing in your consciousness? How did it avoid your field of vision all this time? Why did you not see it before?

Have you had the experience of looking at a person and seeing more to them than you usually see?

How much of what we are trying to do is about seeing the person inside instead of the person outside?

When we see a person, do we see the blonde hair, blue eyes, red hair green eyes, brown hair, brown eyes, short, tall, thin, full bodied, or other descriptions of their outer shell?

Or do we see a spirit gathering the momentum to come out and express itself? What happens when we feed that spirit being encouragement? Affection? Compassion? Kindness? Creative suggestions? Erotic energy? Enthusiasm?

Does the spirit inside start to express itself by expanding to include every inch of its being, its body, and then reaching beyond that to touch all those in its presence?

Does the person begin to smile and continue to smile as we feed it these vital nutrients? When we see who is really there, what happens next? When we set the spirit to dancing, the body follows. See if you can feed the spirit until it breaks free of its restraints and fully inhabits its body, and reaches new heights of experience in its every day life. Try it on yourself. Try it on others. See what a difference you can make by encouraging the spirit in a person to live up to its potential. All of us benefit when this happens.

There is an electricity in the air when you encounter a truly alive person. We see what we want to see in others. There is a contact high when we encourage them and they feel free to act and express rather than to hold back. Do we want to see more aliveness all around us? When we recognize it in others, they become more conscious of it in themselves. What do we want to see? How do we bring it about?