I like to sing when I drive. Loud. Hitting big notes like Adele isn’t a problem when I’m alone. Closing my eyes while singing is common, like Adele. However, I’ve worked out that closing my eyes while driving isn’t such a good idea.
I’ve worked out that closing my eyes while driving isn’t such a good idea.
I reckon the reason we close our eyes is to shut out the real world around us in order to fill our mind with our desired reality. Truth is guys, I can’t sing like Adele when my eyes are shut… but it feels like I can.
When your eyes are closed you get to control your perspective. With eyes open, you’re bombarded with all kinds of crazy things. What we see affects how we feel. Our feelings affect our behaviour. So, what happens when our feelings misguide us because we have shut our eyes and filled our minds with a false reality? An ill-advised mind leads us to unhelpful action.
An ill-advised mind leads us to unhelpful action.
Someone that lives with their eyes shut is usually self-obsessed, self-centred and self-loving. It’s easier to avoid reality than try and change.
I’ve been on a personal journey of inner-focus and healing for the past 15 months, and it’s yielded some realisations that have led to progress and lasting benefits. One of the big “Aha” moments for me was some wisdom I gleaned from a wise sage; “Your feelings are signposts God uses to point your attention to something inside you.”
“Your feelings are signposts God uses to point your attention to something inside you.”
Feelings that rule our lives are not fulfilling their purpose as we were not created to be ruled by our feelings, rather to allow our feelings to guide our focus. When we focus our feelings we find what needs to be acknowledged and addressed, allowing us the advantage of amelioration. Our focused feelings help us to grow!
Our focused feelings help us to grow!
I like to pray when I drive. Like, heaps. I can shift mountains, raise the dead, and see heaven open before me, all from the driver’s seat of my car. Like many, I often close my eyes when praying to remove distractions. This helps me to centre my focus on The Almighty God Who is my partner in prayer. I know, closing my eyes while driving is never a good idea!
Praying shifts my perspective because it aligns my thinking with the mind of God – that is, when my prayers involve more than a wish list or a grizzle!
Eyes shut or eyes open, praying becomes a powerful conversation with life-changing outcomes when we allow God to shape what we see. This is the gift of faith – seeing with the eyes and mind of God.
This is the gift of faith – seeing with the eyes and mind of God.
If I focus my feelings based on the world right now – health pandemics, wars, hurting people – I will quickly become affected by my feelings and think the world is without hope. But when my feelings point me to my need for the peace that can only come from the answers God holds in His hand, I have focused my feelings in a way that helps me and others.
As Adele sings, “Love will soon come. Just hold, hold on.”