What Do Our Eyes Say About Us?

You know what's the most interesting thing about people? Their eyes. I find the eyes to be the most compelling and honest thing about a person. What do eyes really mean and stand for? Generally we use our eyes to see things. Not just things, but the whole world. As a writer I'm always looking into people's eyes, trying to figure them out based of what they say with their eyes. You can fake your smile, but our happiness is defined by our eyes.

The reason this is on my mind is because I've been doing a lot of thinking this past summer. Close to the end of the summer, I was looking through my family's photo albums and what really amazed me was our baby pictures. Now, just for a second look at a baby picture of someone you know now; they're adorable, innocent, and happy right? But when that child grows up, all you see in them now could be anger, disappointment, or sadness. This most definitely doesn't apply to everybody, or maybe it does. I feel like a lot of people are angry right now. In the world we live in, I think everybody can think of one thing they're angry about.

But going back to what I was saying before, the eyes tell a lot. And I believe that people are really missing out getting to know important things about others because they're not making genuine eye contact. This summer I went to a photo gallery and had a conversation with a photography student about the power of story telling. As he was breaking down the composition of a photograph, I could see the passion in his eyes. I'll never see that guy again but I'll always remember him for his passion.

There's the phrase, "Eyes are the windows to the soul" which I believe to be true. I see you, you see me. I think eye contact brings people closer together. Everybody's experienced the moment where something is said, only two people in the room have an inside joke that's only laughed at once eye contact is made. I believe making eye contact with people shows trust and open mindedness. A lot of people don't like to make eye contact. There's a sense of vulnerability and for most, that isn't wanted. But there is a difference between seeing and looking. We all see the world around us, but we never find anything specific unless we're looking for it. When you're looking for something, you want something.

So I want everybody to pay attention to everyone around them. How does someone's eyes change from when they laughed at something to when they're stressed? At different moments in time, what did past photographs say about that person? Find out who people are.