What do you see? 3/12/25

I had breakfast with a dear friend yesterday. She is a very giving mother, grandmother and partner. Many in the family depend upon her generosity. As I listened, I could see and sense the resulting toll of so much service on her body. Driving home, I felt a deep fatigue. Upon further reflection, I remembered a photo I took that seemed to exemplify how she might be feeling at this particular time in her life. Not wanting to project thoughts on her, I simply sent her the image.

When I look at this image, I see vulnerability. I see a pending threat to the structure. A small homestead standing stoically, surrounded by the potential crush of greater forces. I saw the little home as her vulnerable body and the boulders as the needs of the family.

What she saw was “a tiny house that looks like it grew up out of the land around it;

a hidden treasure.”

Same image, different perspective. That is the beauty of any artform. We can learn about our inner world by the meaning we project onto what we see. We can’t help but look through our particular lens or perspective.

It is not The Truth it is Our Truth.

If you take a moment, what do you see or feel when you look at each of these images?

Then, if you care to expand the concept, what do you see when you look at others? Perhaps we see what we habitually see. Or what we have been raised to believe. Perhaps we judge them too quickly, form an opinion and move on.

Any thoughts?