Through Your Eyes

I mentioned a couple of days ago that my friend Emma came to Cleveland to visit me for the weekend. I love having visitors and taking them around the city to show them my favorite parts. Cleveland isn't huge, but there is definitely a lot to see and only so much time in one weekend. I condensed her visit as much as I could, but I felt like there was a lot more to the city that I left out. I spent the weekend profusely apologizing for not taking her to certain neighborhoods or knowing what buildings were and such. Then it occurred to me...When I take people around, I show them Cleveland through my eyes. Perhaps I don't know the most famous or popular spots, but I can show you the best seat in the Starbucks in the Hanna Building (top floor, near the railing for optimum people watching), the best row of steps to sit on at Voinovich park (second or third for reading, top row for the best panorama of the city skyline), and the most beautiful houses away from downtown (Coventry Road). Those are the parts of the city that are important to me. They make up my Cleveland, the city through my point of view.

I think it's very important to view the world through your own eyes. It's so easy to get caught up in the idea of wanting to be somebody else or vicariously live through the experiences of others. When being individualistic is seemingly frowned upon and being part of "something bigger" is emphasized, the notion of viewing the world through your own eyes diminishes.

Take a step back. Think of something that you love, something that you're comfortable with. It could be a place, a person, an object, even yourself. You don't have to write anything down, but think of your top three favorite things about it. How do you see it? Why do you see it that way?