Don’t Look Away To Hide Your Feelings
Please don’t look at me like that. Look away. You look at me in a way that reaches to my soul. I don’t know what those eyes have that speak for you. I look and I know how you feel, there’s no need to say a single word.
But how can the eyes say so much? Maybe just say to me. Do I have a special gift for interpreting a look? I always thought you had the ability to express a whole universe of emotions with just your eyes, but maybe I have the ability to decipher what your gaze suggests.
Is it true what I think about your look?
Am I right or am I mixing my fears and desires with reality? Am I wondering what I think you want to tell me?
Why do you keep looking at me like that? I don’t want to see what your eyes are asking of me. Ah! I already know! I will lower my eyes. I’ll be distracted by the cell phone. The cell phone allows you to detach from the looks around you, the looks that are asking for your look, the looks that want to interact with you.
When we look down, the pain, hope and sadness of others disappear. Nobody will judge you for looking at a screen. By any chance, don’t they do that too? All good! I look at you. You keep looking at me like that…
I don’t know what you got, but it stirs my soul. Why do you provoke so many emotions without my permission? I can not avoid! I just have to look away again. What the eyes don’t see…
Can’t you see that your look awakens my compassion? Yes, your eyes accompanied by your silence. Now I have to do something! Don’t look at me like that, I know what happens to you and I can’t help but feel the same way you do. Come on, it’s done! Grab some of my lasagna but enjoy it, you know it’s my favorite dish and I’m really hungry…
I only ask for one thing in return, stop looking at me like that, please…
Why do the eyes of others move us?
The mechanism responsible for the empathy we feel is called the limbic system. The limbic system is a complex brain structure that manages a great deal of information. The limbic system, in essence, is responsible for awakening, erasing and managing our emotions based on the information our senses perceive.
A look, a song, a sharp pain or the smell of fresh coffee are detected by our senses, endowed with meaning by our cortex, and emotion by our limbic system.
The limbic system has a feature that makes it very special. Our limbic system is an open structure that can get in touch with our interlocutor’s limbic system so that we can feel exactly what they feel. Thanks to this complex system, we can feel empathy, we are saddened by our child’s tears, we rejoice in our partner’s success and we are nervous about the goal of our favorite football team.
Don’t forget: the next time someone is looking at you, don’t lower your eyes to silence what you feel. Look people in the eye and you’ll know what they feel and the emotion they’re causing you.
