Look around!

 I wanted to write about how we see people around us. I am a practicing dentist for the past 25 years and I therefore meet every single day a lot of strangers who are my patients and it is obvious that all of them come and see me because of a tooth pain or discomfort.

My learning after interacting with many patients for the first time has been ‘ all of us want to be heard and seen’ and I have realised most of us never do this well.

We are all so busy with our mind chatter and now with the smart phones that we don’t pay much attention to the human beings around us. Most of us want to get the job done and walk away and I understand with the kind of time pressure and the work expectations we don’t have time or energy to interact or know that other person but we all can be more kinder, more present even if it is small interaction and make the other person seen and heard.

I once read a beautiful line that the utmost respect you give anyone is your total attention to them while you are with them which is attentive listening .

Human interaction is a wonderful experience if we allow ourselves to be more present to people we meet everyday with a smile and acceptance.

I have also realised how we see the world and people around us is nothing but how we are most of the times.

If we are so caught up in our minds and are only focused on only our needs we can never see the other person fully .

It is important to look around us and drop ourselves in order to come to a state of ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’ as ultimately that is where true joy resides.