"When you smile, the whole world smiles back at you."
It is my belief that we literally create our own reality.. and I mean literally in a way that’s difficult to explain. Whatever it is we are experiencing in life, it may seem like it is random or circumstantial or external to your will, but I argue this is not the case at all. There’s actually a very complex mechanism at play, woven into the fabric of reality, that essentially projects out onto the world what you generate inside of you (consciously and sub-consciously).
If you try and put a finger on this phenomenon and test it, you will likely fail. It’s slippery, highly complex and semi-disconnected to our experience of linear time. But nevertheless it is highly manipulable and within your control. The major factors at play here are your thoughts (conscious and unconscious), your emotions, your body language, your words and ultimately your actions. Once you master conscious awareness over these variables, you gain the ability to control your future.
As you know it’s not so simple to perfect these aspects of yourself. You make progress in one area, and life finds new ways to smack you down and challenge you beyond your ability to cope. Once again reality feels unfamiliar, hostile, disconnected and out of your control. You feel like you can never quite get to the point where you feel good about things. Strangers feel strange. And although you’re always make progress, it’s a long and lonely path. But while you are on your path, there is a way to immediately experience support and embrace from the world around you. You don’t have to completely go it alone.. and it all starts with faces.
Look At People's Faces
I’m talking about your face, and your interpretation of other people’s faces in reaction to your own as you go about the day. For me, living in New York City at the time, I didn’t want to deal with people beyond the basic niceties required to function in society. “Hi how are you?” — “Good, how are you?” — “Good. Can I get …” Beyond this, I didn’t care for seeing people as anything other than a means for meeting my basic needs. And why should I? Just look at their faces. They are all selfish, bitter and wouldn’t think twice if it ever came down to choosing between themselves and helping me.
Another example was my experience with a Vipassana 10-day silent meditation retreat in 2018. As much as I tried not to look at others during the retreat, 10 days of silence is a long time to scrutinize the actions and faces of other people. And guess what? When the silence was broken on day 10 and I finally got to know the people I judged, I quickly realized that most if not all of my assumptions were dead wrong. Their faces lit up, I got to see their beautiful smiles and personalities. It was such a stark contrast to the “resting bitch face” I observed on just about everyone during the 10 days before.
Your Assumptions Are Off
My experience of life has proven to me over and over that this is in fact the case for most strangers I come across. When I see their resting face, I make negative assumptions. If I see a smiling face, I let my guard down and smile back. If I do the same and make an effort to engage with them first, they open up and I get a completely different face. It works both ways. I very likely have my own version of a resting B face. So why then am I surprised that reality appears cold and hostile by default? I’m totally creating it! And so are you.
You end up isolating yourself from the very energy you are intrinsically connected to. What you really want is to merge with infinite oneness that is you and everything you’ve ever known. The closer you get to actualizing this connection, the more you will feel the magic and embrace of the universe in support of your life’s desires. So bring more awareness to your own face as you go about your day. Smile more, open your shoulders, look people in the eye and you’ll see.. the world won’t feel so hostile and cold anymore.
About the Author
Firoze Mehta is a Nutrition Therapist Master and Certified Hippocrates Health Educator® specializing in helping people with cancer. Whatever the health condition, Firoze helps others to learn the truth about health and disease, while providing the guidance and support of a personal coach. If you're interested in learning more, click here.