31 Days of Gratitude. Looking vs Seeing.

Do you take a look at things, or do you see them?

There's a difference, you know.

You'll 'get it' immediately if I say 

I'm looking at you

versus

I see you.

One puts us in relationships with one another where you feel a profound connection...


The other puts a distance between you and what you're observing.

Both have their place and can be useful.

Today I want to ask you about Looking and Seeing in our everyday lives.

Maybe you're looking at the flowers, trees, grass or sky

but are you seeing them?

Have you tried that?
Do you know how?

Because when we can switch from looking to seeing, we feel something so precious and alive, it's only then you realize you had been living in a fog.

It's the same way with events.

You can look at "the facts"

and not see the larger truth with its living, connecting fibers at work in your own life and everyone elses'...

It's the same way with people.
You can look at people and notice the externals
of their appearance, words, actions and layered with your reactions to all of that...
and not really see the human being within.


It's the same way with yourself, too.

It is something worth exploring further. For today, it is enough to recognize that there is a difference between looking and seeing.

For today, it is enough to play with it and notice what happens.

Here's how you can play: 
Practice with how different it feels 
to observe in two ways every time you notice something 
by referring to it as 'this,' 
and then referring to it as 'that':

This person, That person
This child, That child
This tree, That tree
This viewpoint, That viewpoint

Slow down, sense into what you're experiencing when you
observe the same thing in each of those two ways.

...

I am grateful for the ability to recognize that how I notice profoundly influences what I notice.

I am thankful to have tools to explore playing with my perspective and observing what I experience.

I am grateful for the willingness to learn more about myself, others and the world around me.

How deeply might your life be enriched  

after practicing 31 Days of Gratitude?  

Join me and find out.

{I host a linky party every Wednesday. More info *HERE.*  I'm sharing Gratitude for Ideas, flexible mind, and Imagineering with these fine folks, whose links open on ~ Sunday:  Sew Darned Crafty, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Making Monday Marvelous, Brassy Apple, Craftomaniac, Alderberry Hill, Under the Table & Dreaming, Making the World Cuter ; Monday: Skip to my Lou, Cherished Bliss, Sugar Bee Crafts ; Tuesday: Not Just a Housewife, Elizabeth & Co., The DIY Dreamer, Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday, Savvy Southern Style, What we Wore & Made, Uncommon, Gingersnap Crafts, The NY Melrose Family, Today's Creative Blog ; Wednesday: I Gotta Create! ,  All Star Block Party, The 36th Avenue, Live-Laugh-Rowe, Handy Man Crafty Woman, The Trendy Treehouse ; Thursday: Scissors & Spatulas, My Repurposed Life, Frugal Girls, Shabby Nest,  Romantic Home, French County Cottage, Stuff & Nonsense ; Friday: Funky Junk Interiors, Happy Hour, Anything Goes, Finding Fabulous, My Simple Home Life, Tatertots & Jello, Thirty Handmade Days, One Creative Mommy ; Saturday: Be Different Act Normal, A Bouquet of Talent, Tutus & Tea Parties, Six Sisters Stuff, Sew Country Chick, DIY Showoff, Positively Splendid , Nifty Thrifty Things}

I want to hear about YOUR experience with looking versus seeing...