Eye to Eye

At the end of March and early April, I am scheduled to give three talks in a two-week time period. I have started to organize thoughts in my head of what to cover, possible questions, and good audience engagement. A part of talking with people is to look at them directly in the eye, but I have a hard time with it.

No matter what I'm doing, I am either sitting or laying flat. If I am talking with someone that's standing, I rarely can easily see their face. If I'm in my chair and talking to an adult, my head is usually aligned with their midsection. If I slightly tilt my chair back, I can then see the person's face, but I normally end up looking up their nose. After a lifetime of this, I am not accustomed to looking at someone directly.

In college, I was told to always look an interviewer in the eye when speaking with him or her as it shows respect and trust. If I am at eye level with a person, I find it uncomfortable and my gaze often darts on and off my audience. Maybe that's why I never got hired on anywhere. It's a trait I'm working to correct, but still have a lot of practice needed.

This past week has seen a lot of political debate, especially in terms of gun control laws. Some groups want certain action taken while other people want something completely different. Unfortunately, there is very little they see eye-to-eye on.

Living the quad life, I frequently have to explain how to do various cares or some project I need help with. It's often very important that I see eye-to-eye with my assistant so the task is completed correctly. From what I see, I'm not the only one that needs to practice more direct communication skills.

As we start this third month of 2018, I hope to encourage anyone reading this to see a situation from multiple points of view. This can help to resolve conflict in this broken world and work to have better resolutions in all parts of life.