You are what you gaze upon.
Where is my gaze focused today?
It is on my neighbor’s fence, watching the hedge grow over and through onto. My thoughts grow as I consider space, and boundaries, and when will those trees grow in?
What am I looking at?
Drishti is a word used in yoga—a point of focus during a particular move. How can staring at a point on the wall help me to hold a pose? I don’t know, but it does. Perhaps I stop thinking about falling because my mind is focused on that little point on the wall.
Where do my eyes go?
Looking at items up close causes eye fatigue, so I go outside and find a point far away that allows my eyes to focus on a distant object.
The tops of trees.
The flight patterns of birds.
Is that a “V”? A turkey vulture.
Is that a flat wing? An eagle or a hawk.
Where do I focus when sadness strikes?
Is it down and inward?
Is this where I look for my answers?
When a doctor’s test reveals the possibility of concern, or the news reports onset of unrest, do I go down the rabbit trail of the worst possible outcomes?
In The Monastic Heart by Joan Chittister, she shares a story about a man who has lost his treasure. On hands and knees he searches through the dust and dirt trying to find it. Others stopped to help him, but to no avail.
Frustrated, one of them asks, “Sir, are you sure you lost it here?”
He responds, “No, it was not here.”
“Then why are we looking for it in this location?”
He says, “Because this is where the light is.”
What am I gazing upon?
Will I lean on the goodness of God knowing I will have the grace to deal with each thing as I need it?
Will I continue to live my life, loving my neighbor, remaining in the light? Will I focus on that point on the wall?
I am what I gaze upon.
Leave a Reply