To give thanks is worthwhile. To feel thankful is transformative. It is different to experience the feeling of being thankful. Gratitude is an expression of a different kind of habit. It is a habitual way of being, more than a habitual way of acting.
To see with soft eyes is transformative. It changes the way I see the world. It changes the way I experience my world, and so it changes my reality. Soft eyes see through the illusion of habitual sight, through the illusion of imagination.
I am constantly reminded of how my mind has shaped the way I experience the world. It is not easy to learn to use soft eyes. I have been guided so much by what I expect to see, by imagined reality and it is hard to develop an awareness of the world as it really is.
Hardly a day goes by that I am not reminded that “truth” has been based on more imagination than observation. My experience constantly challenges what I once regarded as “truth.” My eyes are being transformed and I am more skeptical of what I once thought I saw.
Perhaps I am just being pragmatic. I know only what I am learning to see and touch. It is transformative to embrace a world known by experience. I only faintly remember what it was to be caught in an imaginary world of angels, demons and gods. I now struggle to stay clear of a world trying to be shaped by the imagination of politicians and media moguls. I try to rely on my transformed eyes and ears.