What Do Your Eyes See?

Categories: Blog Jun 16, 2019

The eyes are important. They affect not only how we see, but how we move. With the eyes we take in information about the world around us, but with the eyes we also give information to the world about us. We use them to see, to express, and to move.

At least we should, though often we look through distorted lenses and we see things that arent there or we don't see what is there. Often we don't express much with them either other than a sort of blank apathy or sleep state. And often we don't use them to move because we have learned to hold them still or fix them in one spot, separating them from the dance of grace we were meant to move through.

It's really hard to encompass all the eyes can do. They aren't just meant for sight, to tell us about the world around us. At times, it is much the opposite. The eyes can be meant for communication, to tell the world about us. We can use them to take in information about the world or use them to be the information in the world. They express our joy, light, hopes, fears, frustrations; the best of us and the worst of us.

And if you think about it, they are full of wonder. They can be wide open and see nothing, or they can be closed and somehow see everything. They are physical but only relay the information the brain is alert to, conscious to, or able to handle due to emotions, intentions, or whatever. But true sight is not dependent on them as somehow we can see things clearly when they are closed, or if we are "present" we can see things no one else around us can. We can even alter how we see by changing our lenses through emotions, perspectives, past events, or beliefs.

All of this to say, our eyes are amazing. Or at least they should be. They are meant to be a bridge of wonder; to take in wonder around us as well as to express and convey it. But most of us don't use our eyes as they are intended. We "see" without seeing and we even move without moving - fully. We've isolated our vision through past experiences or stuck beliefs, and we've segregated the movement of our eyes from the rest of the body.

Let's look at the eyes and the wonder they bring to movement. You've probably heard that the body follows the head, but did you know the head is meant to follow the eyes? Which means the body follows the eyes... The eyes, where they move, prepare the body to move. In fact, the eyes - if integrated well with the vestibular system - can be a great driver for movement. The eyes also help stabilize us and allow us to do amazing things like turn to watch birds fly overhead while we are running straight (It's the little things we don't think about that are full of wonder...). Anyway, the eyes are meant to help movement in all its forms. They are meant to add power to our movements as well as steadiness and grace; they can help drive our movements or fine tune them.

Your eyes move up, down, left, right, diagonal, in circles, and more. They are made to move. And, they are made to move you optimally. Yet, most of us keep them still. Smartphones, screens, and frames - we've all but removed the need to move the eyes. Which means we've all but removed our body's ability to fully move as it was designed to move. If we don't take advantage of the design, we limit the potential of the purpose.

Now let's briefly look at the eyes and the wonder they should bring to life. This is really too deep to do justice, but we can stir the thoughts a bit... The eyes are meant to see; to give us information about what is. Yet many of us only take in information of what was or of what is imagined. We "see" through our emotions, fears, and pasts. We rarely see through our unfiltered now. We tell our eyes what we see rather than allowing our eyes to show us what is or what could be. We see people and see stories about them rather than actually seeing them and the beautiful potential they carry. We see trees and see wood sticking out of the ground holding leaves or birds rather than seeing life express itself through texture, color, shape, and beauty. We often filter what we see and rarely dare to allow ourselves to let go and actually see.

And then there is the expressive, communicative part of the eyes. It has been said they are the windows to the soul. Your eyes tell the world about you; happy, sad, apathetic, zombie, alive, integris, scared, vibrant, etc... Try as we might to conceal it, often the eyes reveal the truth about us. But often what the eyes express is also correlated with how the eyes see. If we see a world of darkness, we are likely to reveal a brokenness within us. If we see a world of wonder, we are likely to unable to conceal a light shining from us.

How do you see the world? What do your eyes tell the world about you? The stories we see are often the stories we tell.

Our eyes are made to move, but they are not just meant to move us. They are also meant to move the world. Can you see it?

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