My eyes are closed and I can see. My eyes are open and I see. I see through my heart, my ears, touch, taste and smell. I see through each one of my senses IF I pay attention and allow myself to see. Do you allow yourself to see?
I’ve never thought of myself as a girl with rose colored glasses. I believed I saw objectively, well, for most people and situations. Yet while I was in India I began to see with more depth. My belief wasn’t wrong, but many times my objectivity was based on my own frame of reference or experience. Thanks to a conversation with my sister about how some people aren’t good test takers, I began to understand and see life differently. Maybe some of it was taking my own frame of reference or ego out of it and being open to other experiences or points of view when my ego was screaming inside :”that won’t work, that isn’t right, they don’t know”.
This reminds me of a situation going on within our county. Recently, the county I live in has been in an emotional uproar due to a proposed school reassignment plan that affects over 6000 kids in the county, mine included. The parents came together less than 8 weeks ago with many of us strangers, from all walks of life, living in neighboring communities. Social media is amazing and quickly brought us together. We rallied. We were united and positive. Over the weeks we’ve worked together to research, uncover, discover and formulate innovative ideas…a vision…to bring back to the Board of Education in hopes of working together and creating a better, long term solution for the issues at hand that prompted the reassigment.
We haven’t been met with open arms by the Board of Ed. It is a challenge to have a conversation with anyone when the other person(s) don’t answer questions or engage. Feeling unheard or invisible (not being seen)is an awful feeling for anyone in any situation. And I know some parents are struggling, feeling down and getting angry. I’ve had my own flashes of sadness too.
I look at the folks we elected to the Board of Ed. And like all people, they are good people. And like all people, sometimes people (self included) make bad choices. These folks all ran for these positions in an effort to help our county and our children. I applaud them for that. The challenge is remembering why you are there and what you said you would do when you ran. Egos get involved (they aren’t playing well with the County Commision) and sometimes it is just hard to let that stuff go. Passion takes over and it becomes difficult to SEE from any viewpoint but where you are at that moment. I get it. I believe these folks stood up to be elected and do great things and I believe with our support they will take a step back from their own experience and ego and allow themselves to see more points of view to create a long term vision that benefits everyone in the county and sees beyond their objective vision of their own experience.
How we help ourselves and others see is through belief, support and saying what you feel and what is true for you gently or nurturingly so it can be heard. In doing so it makes others feel comfortable, even safe to listen and see other points of view not within their own experience or frame of reference. If the world played it safe with ideas, we would still be sending smoke signals to communicate rather than smart phones, blogs, internet, social media, etc.
Take a step back today and ask yourself in any situation, what if I was the other person? What if my experiences were different? Would I feel or see this situation differently. Can I take myself out of it long enough to see objectively another point of view and truly be open to accepting one that isn’t mine? It is not always easy and some days I struggle with it, but WOW it is so worth it when I step back. Each time encourages me more and more to continue. We are all a work in progress on the path of our journey of life. Remembering part of a well known song: “was blind, but now I see”. Now that is grace.
I encourage you to SEE in everyway.
Lovingly Lotus
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