fresh eyes/fresh viewpoint
fresh eyes/fresh viewpoint
I think I mentioned a few days ago about how fresh coat of paint can really brighten our mood, not just our walls. Well, my friend whose kitchen I helped paint is now putting everything back together. I had previously told her to fill in the nail holes so she would be forced to think with fresh eyes when it came to adding accessories, etc. I went over there today to help her with the final touches.
I had to practically twist her arm to get her to think with fresh eyes. Getting her to remove the dark rug under her table was a major feat. Her kitchen, which is quite small, looks so much bigger and bright without one’s eye going to that dark rug that drew the room in too much. Then I had to strong-arm her a little more to convince her to remove those outdated chair pads. But I convinced her. I cleared off her table and had her stand back and look at what those little changes had accomplished. She was shocked and very pleased at the difference.
We need “fresh” eyes about so many things. About our homes. About our circumstances. About our views surrounding various issues. About our personal style. We might very well end up coming full circle in some areas. For example, we may decide that our views surrounding various issues are exactly how we believe and we are content with the logic behind those views.
But based on the people I know and my personal experience, it doesn’t happen as often as you’d think. Most of us have the views we have, not based on sound thinking, but because various influences have invaded our thinking and influenced us without our conscious awareness. We offer our opinions and views and don’t even hear the words coming out of our mouths. But this is getting a little complicated for where I’m headed so we’ll save this discussion for one of my more “cerebral” posts.
Back to my friend’s kitchen.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that when we are redecorating, we need to give our freshly painted walls an opportunity to stay “nekked” for a while. We need to look at accessories and paintings in other rooms and see if we can use them in our newly decorated space. It’s my belief that adopting a different perspective about something as visual as our living spaces can carry over to the not-so-transparent issues of life-the ones that really matter. It’s kind of like a shot in the arm-a catalyst for changes in other areas.
It works especially for depression. Changing the living spaces that we look at every day somehow subtly short circuits that part of our brain that has gotten used to our familiar, though static, environment. It ever so gently reminds us that our moods are more in our control that we thought. That maybe we can change something here as well. We feel just a little empowered.
Action almost always prompts other actions.
What’s that commercial, “The body in motion stays in motion. The body at rest stays at rest”? (Something like that.) The message (despite the fact that it’s trying to sell a product) is absolutely right-on.
I hope you’ve followed my thought processes and are grasping what I’m saying. It’s one of those concepts that’s hard to explain but that if you try it you will intuitively feel the truth of it.
We can become too comfortable with too many things.
