Moving beyond blindspots…

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Why Blindspots?

I have been excavating blindspots for 20 years. The texture of them inside of me. The fuzziness. The reaction to defend something before you even know what it is. While I’ve been excavating them in myself, I’ve also been curious about the blindspots others don’t want to acknowledge or see in themselves. I can’t help but shine a light on them, and as a result, I often see what others can’t or don’t want to see, but need to.

Blindspots are like fingerprints on a window. They’re only visible when the light is at just the right angle. A glimpse of the shadow of something that was feared, uncomfortable, or incongruent that got stuck somewhere and only sometimes visible. 

Blindspots reveal the parts of us that we’ve excluded or learned to exclude. They are the debris of polarity. Good or bad. Right or wrong. Dark or light. Worthy or unworthy. Powerful or Weak. Love or Fear. Self-love or Guilt. 

When you are in integrity you are curious about your blindspots. When you are outside of integrity you are controlled by your blindspots through stubbornness, reactivity, learned ignorance and blame. 

Have you ever tried to use your brain to write or work while someone is using a leaf blower outside of your window? If you’re feeling joyful, hopeful and in flow with the universe, you may be able to laugh it off. If you have any agitation lingering inside of you, it will slowly or immediately reveal something, possibly your anger, fear or helplessness. 

People’s blindspots are like wind blowers to other people who don’t have the same blind spots; a constant irritation that is nearly impossible to avoid. If you try to address it, they stick their ears closer to the leaf blower, unite with it, and possibly deem you unhinged or reactive. 

This is what white people do with racism. People of color can do with internalized white supremacy. Straight people do with homophobia. Gay people can do with internalized heteronormativity. Men with women and women with men. And gender conforming people do with non-gender conforming people. Did I lose you? Piss you off? Are you defending yourself? Or are you arguing you are beyond such polarities? We all have blindspots, and they are running into others constantly, causing small hurts or aggravations we are as blind to as the blindspot in a rearview mirror. 

We live in a world and a cultural soup that is influenced by how we’ve been steeped in polarities throughout our lives. We have to be endlessly curious and dedicated to consciously paying attention to the nuances of our actions, interactions, feelings and emotions. In doing so, hopefully we’re able to bring our awareness to the blindspots that have been soaked into our skin, muscles, organs and bones. 

Blindspots are more than isms -sexism, racism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, ethnocentrism and all isms.  They are also the parts of us we’ve learned to not accept or that we deny, and these blindspots cause us to also reject or deny parts of others. They are the fragments causing disconnection and pain.

In this endless curiosity, we each create a deeper connection with our body, our emotions, our habits, our patterns and our beliefs revealing what is also unconsciously controlling and sabotaging us so it can be changed. This opportunity for change is where freedom lies; no longer blindly participating in harm to ourself and others, allowing us all to connect.