16/11/2025
An old friend recently posted a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Göthe. The translation I found says:
“The most powerful figment of imagination is public opinion: no one knows exactly who creates it, no one has ever met it personally, yet everyone allows themselves to be tyrannised by it”
It certainly rings true to me – in big and small things.
This brought up another idea I grew up with:
When asked a difficult question, the eye movements supposedly reveal whether you’re lying – especially when looking up to the left and right. Funny that this ‘myth’ turned into a therapy form called brain spotting in which the eye positions are used therapeutically in a very different way!
However, the stress of not moving the eyes away from the person one talked too got underlined with the belief that one must look someone straight in the eyes to be taken seriously, conveying to know what exactly you are talking about.
Let’s be honest: in emotional or stressful situation, intense eye contact can make thinking so much harder, adding to stress levels.
How much nicer would it be to give each other space to release our eyes, let them wonder whilst thinking, breath and come back with an answer which is likely of greater value then what one could say under stress. It feels a little sad that this seems to be confined to therapy rooms, where it becomes part of the therapy session.
Our body mind soul and spirit know how to heal and what it needs if only we would find the courage to allow it like we do when we have a cut – clean the wound and let it heal – you don’t even need to know how your body does it.
That’s essentially what Francine Sharprio stumbled upon in 1987 when she realised that moving her eyes from side to side would allow her to process a stressful situation – which became the foundation of EMDR (eye-Movement-Desensitisation and reprocessing) Today this is acknowledged as an evidence-based therapy worldwide – even if we still can’t fully explain how it works.
I like to invite you to do the same: allow and play with new and old ideas, discover and rediscover how to heal and manage daily life stress. Say you are running late for work – before you walk in, pause, breath allow your eyes to move from side to side and process why you are late and see if it makes a different to walking in with the usual rush around.
When might you seek extra support?
• When you keep doing things you wish to change
• When you are not doing what you like to do
• When you don’t know what you like or want altogether.
And of course, if you are dealing with any kind of illness or condition that interferes with daily life, specialist support is important.
Be gentle and kind with yourself. We are all learning, unlearning and relearning.
Get in touch if you like to know more or seeking support.
www.move-freely.com.au
