Homework in Training Your Jedi Skills of Seeing
By Yael Reiss
I believe every person has some natural “Jedi” seeing abilities, and that these can be practiced and improved.
You know how someone that is scared of dogs can walk down a street, and dogs will bark, as dogs smell and sense a person’s fear? A different person who is confident with dogs may walk down the same street and not be barked at. This is of course not always the case, it’s just something interesting to notice when it happens.
Similarly, humans also feel and see other people’s (and animal’s) emotions and thoughts.
When I walk on the footpath on my afternoon walks, I sometimes become curious to practice my “Jedi” Seeing abilities. I have a quick look at some of the other walkers on the footpath and guess something about them and their story. One of these times, a couple was sitting on a bench somewhat further down the footpath, and I sensed that they were breaking up. When I passed them as I was continuing my walk I could briefly hear her saying to him “in order for us to move forward…” I continued walking and just felt their hearts break as I moved on further down the path.
I call this the cloud effect, when we can feel other people’s energy and emotions. It’s unconscious. We all have mirror neurons in our brain that outside of our awareness mirrors the other person, getting into their shoes and experiences, without a prerequisite of consciously knowing anything about them. It’s a naturally occurring survival skill that keeps us informed about the intentions of the other person (or animal) that crosses our path. We are a social animal, and this skill is helpful not just for survival, but also for thriving socially by connecting with others through empathy. Empathy is guessing or having the ability to feel what the other person is feeling. Feeling the cloud of energy and emotions that they unconsciously bear within and around them.
We are not often taught to notice this or may even feel embarrassed to admit to ourselves that we feel people’s “clouds”.
I give little exercises in “cloud” awareness and curiosity to the participants of The Art of Seeing training. Just be curious and imaginative when you see people in the supermarket, on the footpath, at work, or anywhere really. Don’t dismiss what you perceive and don’t take it as truth. Just examine it openly and curiously.
You can start practicing this yourself now.
It may be a natural or ancient wisdom that is lost, but it is actually quite simple to practice, activate, and become good at. This is what we do at The Art of Seeing.
A participant in The Art of Seeing training told me: “What I’m really interested in, is being able to deeply see these patterns that you (Yael) pick up in less than a nanosecond, there’s so much gold in that.” I replied that this is exactly what I want the training to do for the participants of The Art of Seeing. The simple exercise above helps create a foundation that is important to have in order to eventually be able to pick up people’s patterns in a nanosecond.
Whether or not you are signed up for the training, you can start practicing now, and let me know how you go and if you have something interesting to share or have questions.
The Art of Seeing Training is where you will practice many interesting and different exercises as well as see me as I see you and others.
I hope you find this inetersing or helpful.
Warmly,
Yael
