Being seen is essential to us becoming whole. A child needs to be seen, an employer needs to be seen, a lover needs to be seen, we all need to be seen. When we feel we are truly seen a sense of affirmation happens deep down in our spirit and we are given the freedom to fly. If however we are never seen, we slowly die, our spirit shrivels and we self destruct.

In this session we explored how emotionally open we are to those around us and do we really see the people in our lives. Or do we just do work, chores, life with them and never really know who they are and how they are doing. In the exercises we practiced the simple but under utilized gift we have of looking and seeing another. We explored how it felt to be seen and how it felt to do the looking.

Sergio reminded us that to look we need to be emotionally available to the other person. Present and focused enough to absorb where they are. We are able to open and close our ability to be emotionally available. For instance we sometimes close off completely to a beggar or open up completely to a child. So there is always a percentage of emotional availability we have. How emotionally available are you to those around you today?

To illustrate the power of looking Sergio shared this story with us:A Swiss friend of his was interested in the bushmen culture and went to spend some time with them. One evening around the campfire, there was an old bushwomen crouching by the fire trying to get warm with her eyes closed. Something about her mesmerized him and he kept on looking at her. Her eyes were still closed. They stayed like that for a while, until she eventually opened her eyes and looked at him. They looked into each others eyes and then tears began to flow down her cheeks. They had never said a word to each other. They couldn’t as they did not speak each other’s language and yet they had had a profound connection.