When it comes to drawing, two things fascinate me: the eyes and the hands. It’s no mistake they are also two of the hardest things to get right. I will often find myself easily drawing a face and body, only to have it undone by some questionably-sketched hands. Or the eyes are unfit for the look I’m going for.
It’s no mistake, then, that we’re also using our eyes and hands daily: in our we perceive the world and ourselves (eyes), and our actions (hands) impact that. Sometimes we reach out; sometimes we make a fist; sometimes we keep our hands in our pockets. Sometimes we feel seen and sometimes we feel invisible.
It is a constant conversation between the hands and the eyes.
Our lives often function in that tension between the mechanical and the organic. We use transportation to get where we want to go (even if it’s the smooth gears of a pedal bike), and we rely on the steady ticking of time to massage some shape and structure into our day. We measure what we feel comfortable with so we can see how far we’ve come and how far we have to go. To see if things fit as well as we think they do.
But we also get a jolt from touching our feet to the grass. From forest bathing in the nearby woods. From embracing the circle of life, in all its ups, downs, and sideway passages.
Sometimes we want new eyes with which to see the world, only to realize they take us further away from where we want to be. Sometimes we have to trust we have all the tools we need; we just need to use them.
I am as guilty as anyone of dreaming up where I want to be – the skills I want to have, the problems I want to solve – without remembering to take that first initial step. It seems so quaint in the big picture. But the big picture can’t form without that first push out the door.
And now, back to the hands. The first things we look at when we realize the weight of our actions. The first things to cover our eyes when we’re in shame, in exhaustion, in sadness. The things to shield the light that’s too bright, the water that’s too salty. They are also, as I have found, great tools for finding some kind of piece. The physical act of doing something with our hands can help distract us from what’s not letting us go, and somehow, in all that, we are freed, if only temporarily, and sit in that moment of peace.
