Slogan #20

Of the two witnesses, hold the principle one. Trust your own eyes.

Our practice today will be a 10-minute mirror meditation. Look at yourself in a mirror with soft yet discerning eyes and observe yourself. Tara Well developed this self-reflection practice as a way to cultivate self-compassion and self-honesty. Instead of closing your eyes and turning your gaze inward, make eye contact with your own reflection. Do not dilute your focus with breathing techniques or mantras; notice what you see when you look into your own eyes. Be open to whatever comes bubbling up and meet each thought with loving kindness and equanimity. Maintain an outer and inner gaze that is unwavering. See and listen with your heart. Trust your own eyes, instincts, and experience. You’re the only one who knows when you’re opening and closing. See yourself with compassion but also without self-deception. Notice when you are being phony or genuine, aware or unaware, compassionate or uncompassionate. Trust your own instincts, your own experience. Do not abdicate responsibility for your life. Feel seen. And loved. This is a practice of polishing your inner mirror in order for your true nature to shine through. What is most alive in you? What will enrich your life moving forward? How can you best be of service?

When we trust our ability to see, we can take this clarity into our relationships with others. What does clear seeing look like in your life? I remember Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present at MoMA in 2010. Over three months, for eight hours a day, she made silent and direct eye contact with 1,000 strangers: “Nobody could imagine…that anybody would take time to sit and just engage in mutual gaze with me,” Abramović explained. In fact, the chair was always occupied, and there were continuous lines of people waiting to sit in it. “It was [a] complete surprise…this enormous need of humans to actually have contact.”

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

Henry David Thoreau