07/07/2021
Haiti is on our hearts today. ♥️
I so appreciate being able to introduce you to ‘Eldie’….She is standing to my right…We met when our Influenc3r Group traveled to the Many Hands for Haiti Campus. For a leadership exercise, they paired us up to sit quietly and stare into our partner’s eyes for a few minutes (and as you can imagine it felt like an eternity). Afterward, we made note of what we were thinking and feeling - [I share my sketchbook page with you in one of the images]. I can still recall that experience vividly. You can see & feel someone’s heart through their eyes, I don’t believe there’s any way for us to disguise it. It is a powerful exercise, especially with someone so new and different to you. We could not communicate with each other through our languages, but through that stillness and that jointly intentional ‘eye to eye’….it led us to a raw place of connection and compassion for one another…a curiosity to know more of our stories. While we couldn’t communicate through words, (which was incredibly frustrating to me, I had so many things I wanted to ask, discuss, share) but we wrote our names in each other’s sketchbook. I was able to bring a piece of her back with me and I left a piece of myself there in Haiti, a tangible treasure from that experience. The personal energy that exudes from the marks we make on paper through drawing & writing can be felt in an everlasting way…..technology can never replace that. Eldie also taught us what it looks like to show up in your best, with your best each & every day, regardless of circumstances.
There are a couple things I hope to have inspired in this post…..
1. To really look into the eyes of the people you are blessed to cross paths with or be in relationship with. It says you see them. It says they matter.
2. To give thought and notice to the energy that you are able to feel through what someone puts down on paper for you…be it a letter, a recipe, a drawing, a doodle….each mark is unique to that individual, sit with it a minute, reflect on the notion, and dare I promise….you will FEEL them through that page.
3. Prayers for peace….Love & Hugs to Eldie & All.
