“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.”
Walt Whitman
How do we keep our faces pointed toward the sunshine?
A theme throughout human history has been that light is good and darkness is bad. We associate evil with the shadows, the ominous, the unseen. There is a generalized fear of the unknown, and what lies in the shadows is unclear.
We associate goodness with light, and we’ve all heard the warning that the eyes are the window to the soul. Might Whitman have been suggesting we keep our eyes fixed on the good?
If so, how do we do this?
What we allow into our minds has to go somewhere, and what we focus on has great influence on the quality of our lives. The messages we hear, the songs we adore, the media we consume, when they enter our minds, they don’t just vanish, they go somewhere, and they affect us, and some of these inputs stay with us our entire lives.
So the question becomes what are we allowing into our life and where is our focus? Are we seeking the good and fixing our eyes on it? Are we relishing the positive aspects of our life?
One way to fix our eyes on the good is to remind ourselves of what’s good in our lives—through a gratitude journal or positive affirmations. We can be proactive about fixing our eyes on the good.
Remember, Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.
Bits of Wisdom Podcast #45