Look up!

Watching sad faces in the street I notice they all have something in common.  The face owners are not really there.  They're in a world of thought, ruminating over all that is challenging them, all their troubles spread across their expressionless faces.  There's a depth in their eyes that seems to sink into a dark, light deprived abyss, a cave of sadness.  They could walk for hours wrapped up in their personal bubble of despair without noticing a single thing around them.  I've been behind those eyes.  I've been that pavement staring zombie.  Thankfully I'm not there now, but I can empathise with those faces passing me by and be reminded of what a heavy, dark place it is when you are that person.  I want to stop them in their tracks and get them to look me in the eye.  Then I'd tell them to simply lift their gaze. Stop looking at the ground, getting familiar with asphalt won't help free them from their tunnel of turmoil.  Look up and look at the other folk in the street passing by.  Simply making eye contact with others can stimulate a sense of belonging,  reminding them they are part of the world, no matter how detached they might feel right now.  Also, looking up can give our natural surroundings the opportunity to remind us of the constant life- everywhere! No matter what our own heads are doing to us, the flowers still blossom, the wind still races through the trees making the leaves dance merrily around, and the birds still sing and dart from place to place collecting food for their young.  Little by little by paying attention to what is going on "out there" we can start to gain an appreciation for the bigger world around us, and by doing so we can move away from that inward focus, which only serves to keep us absorbed in our own, very personal sadness.
"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down.  Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." - G.K. Chesterton