Week 20 - Seeing With Fresh Eyes

Week 20 Activity

SEEING WITH FRESH EYES

I was having lunch at a friend's home and enjoying the

cheese I had spooned from a little dish on to my salad.

"This is delicious' I said. "What is it?" She looked at me,

a bit puzzled. "It's cottage cheese," she replied.

I laughed because I hate cottage cheese! Or so I thought,

anyway. However, experiencing it free of packaging—

with "beginner's mind"—I discovered that I loved it.

So it is with much of life.

Why bother? Why not avoid cottage cheese or its equivalent for the rest of my life? Apart from the risk that you will be missing out on something that you might actually enjoy, too often we become attached to a particular label or idea we have of ourselves. It becomes part of who we are—how others see us and how we view ourselves. This can prevent us from growing, from shedding out-of-date dislikes, habits, and behaviour.

What is on your hit list of "things to avoid"? Write them down. Then choose something from that list and try experiencing it as if for the first time. Explore it with as many of your senses as possible. Pay attention to any resistance that arises in the form of thoughts, memories, emotions, and bodily sensations. Tease apart your experience. What do you notice? This is not about forcing yourself to like it—you still may not—but rather to see it with fresh eyes.