Hello and Welcome, I’m Shauna Hoffman,

I have been missing in action for the last few weeks as I needed a little eye-opening surgery! And I mean this in so many ways! Just like my grandmother I have these deep-set eyes. And as we both aged the lids started to get just a little too heavy. My doctor noticed that there was a good chance that my vision was being impaired. Well, who knew? It’s so funny because for the longest time I have been sweeping my bangs away from my right eye thinking they were blocking my vision. And other times I was rubbing my eye feeling like there was a film over it. Well for someone who practices self-awareness I was an idiot! It was my eyelid! More on one side than on the other. Which of course makes perfect sense in the spiritual world. I was imbalanced! I was not looking at what was in front of me. And I was not centered on my own self-awareness. Damn!

So I thought I would investigate a little deeper… I wanted to look at what the spiritualists say about the right side of the body and what it represents. And what was it that I did not want to see?

The left side of the body is often regarded as the feminine side, the receiving side, where you take in. It represents, among other things, the mother. The right side of the body is often regarded as the masculine side, the giving-out side, where you express.

So I’m reading this thinking… I am totally in tune with my left side! My feminine side. After all I teach this to all of the people I counsel. Especially women! Receiving is good! Receiving is necessary. There is no selfishness in receiving! Well, obviously my body agreed. But I thought for sure I was absolutely expressing from the right side in my podcast and therapy work, I was giving out! I was sharing not only my insight but that of so many guests on my show. Not to mention the dog rescue work that I do.

Hmmmm…. I guess I must look a little deeper!

Next, I thought more about the eyes and what they represent. Vision, clarity, InSIGHTfulness. You know the old saying, the eyes are the window to your soul. And then I started to put the pieces together. We always take that saying to mean that others see us by looking into our eyes. When we look deeply into someone’s eyes we can see if we trust them, are they seemingly genuine, do they seem angry or are they projecting love. Oh, we see so much when we look into each other’s eyes. But I think we lose the true meaning of this saying. That is… that if we look deep within, we can see, touch and heal our own souls.

Ok, now I’m on a deep dive search for more spiritual teachings and wisdom about the eyes. Next, I turned to the American Indians and I found some of the most beautiful quotes. This one, in particular moved me. It brought back the concept that the eyes are the window to the soul. But again, for ourselves to look within.

The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.

We know that sadness and tears of joy reveal so much about our own wisdom. What I love about this quote is it’s not about the ego learning from sadness or joy. It is about the rainbow of colors and the growth our soul experiences. And most importantly, the ability to see beauty through all of our tears.

I found this beautiful quote by Brother Spirit Lame Deer of the Lakota Tribe.

“I wanted to feel, smell, hear and see. But not see with my eyes and my mind only. I wanted to see with CANTE-ISTA, the eye of the heart.”

How beautiful is this? It is a way to see the world not through our eyes but through our hearts.

So is there something that my heart is not seeing or expressing?

The journaling begins as I look deeper at that.

I love the wisdom of so many different spiritual teachings, Buddhist, Hindu, Tao, American Indian, Jesus, Judaism, philosophers, poets and so much more.

So that brought me to The esoteric belief in what the third eye represents:

The third eye allows for clear thought, spiritual contemplation, and self-reflection. It is the highest chakra in the physical body, allowing it to provide a visionary perspective. The third eye also helps to determine one’s reality and beliefs based on what one chooses to see in the world.

OK- So the third eye is not only self-reflection, but how we present our own selves to the world based on what we feel inside. Again… it helps us determine our own reality and beliefs based on what we choose to SEE around us, in our worlds.

That said it all! It said everything that I try and share with my listeners. We can look at what the world wants from us. We can look at what family wants from us. But we have a choice. We can choose to SEE ourselves the way they do… or who we know we are in the deepest parts of our souls. It reminds us that when we look at the world around us we can decide what we believe. Not what others want us to believe. And that will determine the way, the values, and the truth of how we SEE ourselves.

OK… now back to me and this surgery!

Now I had to take all of this, go beyond the biological and see if there was a spiritual reason why my eyes were closing. So I journaled pieces of each of the wisdom I just shared with you to SEEEEEEE which resonated with me.

Hmmmmm…. Left side, feminine, receiving. Right side Masculine giving out…expressing… Well, there was a clue! it didn’t take long to realize that I just spent a year in lockdown from Covid. My relationship to how I saw the world was absolutely distorted and confused. My ability to express myself the way that warms my soul with friends, families, animals, the ocean, nature was drastically changed. No not changed… but stifled. And biggest picture between the politics of the last few years and Covid it was less the way I was living in this new world as it was what I SAW in the world around me. I had wanted to close myself in and protect myself and those I loved. My personal world had gotten so small…and so did my eyes.

Then I looked at Spirit, soul, third eye. So let me read to you again one of the definitions of the third eye.

The third eye allows for clear thought, spiritual contemplation, and self-reflection. It is the highest chakra in the physical body, allowing it to provide a visionary perspective. The third eye also helps to determine one’s reality and beliefs based on what one chooses to see in the world.

I think the last year I was in survival mode. Spiritual self-reflection was there in the form of trying to look deeply at myself during the marches for black lives matters and how I worked to help my countries politics reflect and align more with my own beliefs. But it’s that last few words in the paragraph that brought me right back.

The third eye also helps to determine one’s reality and beliefs based on what one chooses to see in the world.

Those are some pretty heavy words… what one chooses to see in the world. And it became pretty clear to me that what I have chosen to see in the world the last year has been painful, and heartbreaking, uplifting, and controversial. The roller coaster of my thoughts and emotions and what I SAW was so overwhelming at times that I think my eyelids got heavy. It was just so hard to look at our world. It was hard to see pain and sadness and so much death. It was so hard to see violence against people who were only trying to live out their lives or speak their truth. Though my physical world had gotten so small, truly survival mode….my world vision grew exponentially. And I think I was just plain tired!

My own self-reflection…

The world is opening up now from the Covid lockdown. But the lessons that I have learned through the last year are huge. Sitting at home healing for 2 weeks has helped me sit in contemplation and really SEE more clearly how this last year has affected me. I am so tempted to just run through the fields and streets and play and laugh and hug people, jump on a cruise, go sailing, hang with a bunch of people and their dogs. And I will! But I have realized that I need to BALANCE that with my own self-reflection while I do it.

I need to balance my inner world and outer world, my feminine and masculine, my outer vision with my third eye!

You know what they say… the eyes have it! So I am hoping that this episode may give you the inclination to look back on the last year and SEE how it has affected you, mind, body, and soul. Take your time with this. Journal, meditate. And make sure to check in with your body and how it has been affected by the last year. But mostly check in with your heart.

I will leave you with this quote from the famous Sioux chief, Chief Crazy Horse.

“I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one.”

To all my podcast listeners, please be good to yourselves! Eat nourishing foods, drink so much water, get lots of sleep, and surround yourself with loving beings! Keep your eyes open to all that your heart and soul want you to see!

Thank you for letting me into your lives today. and I look forward to popping back in again… next time!

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONTENT DISCUSSED…

• A Journey to Awareness Podcast: All Episodes

• Shauna’s website: https://www.workingonme.com

WHEN DOES IT AIR… 
MAY 29, 2021