Thanks to all who responded to my veggie post! I received a lot of great advice and I know that my struggles to eat compassionately will be well worth the effort.
You know what I noticed the other day as I was walking down the hallway to my office? I tend to not make eye contact when I walk by people. It’s interesting the games we play when we walk by someone. We pretend they don’t exist! We will look everywhere but the other person, pretend to be engrossed with our phones, look through the person, or eye them up and down but not say a word. Very rarely will we say hi and when we do it’s half hearted and without much thought.
In college I had a friend that everyone loved. Whenever we trekked across campus, he would say hi or stop to talk to at least a handful of people every time. People just LOVED his company!Now when I look back I realize the reason people were so attracted to him was because he SAW people. He acknowledged people as they walked by. He made eye contact. And when he looked at you, his entire attention was on you. You couldn’t help but feel special.
The thing is, my dear readers, we want to be seen. It’s one of our deepest desires. Humans are naturally social creatures and we love being acknowledged. When we walk by people on the street pretending that we are our own bubble, we fail to see that each person is worthy of love and attention. We separate ourselves and this separation is what makes us believe we are better than others, or that we are entitled to treat others poorly.
The concept of oneness, that we are all one, stems from the idea that we are very very much the same. We all have the same desires to love and be loved. We all are worthy of attention.
So I am making it my goal to stand up a little straighter, and say hi when I walk by someone and genuinely see the person. Make eye contact. Acknowledge that we are all one. It actually takes LESS effort to say hi then to think of ways of pretending that person doesn’t exist.
And who knows, maybe a simple hi will make their day.
Namaste.
December 11th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
This really is so important. There are quite a few people in my firm that walk by like you don't exist, that only see you when they need something, and believe me, I remember that, permanently. My co-workers do, too. We've discussed this more than once. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate – a quick smile and a nod go a long way. On the street, yeah, that's something I need to work on. Great post.
December 16th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Sometimes a HI is not even necessary when you're exuding a warm energy. I like to people watch pretty much all of the time. And you can really tell how open (or not open) someone is just by looking at them. It's kind of an intangible thing. I turn it on or off depending on my mood but fortunately I do try to be more open than closed.