High sensitivity can feel like being plugged into an electric current of awareness, like having non-optional X-ray goggles on. During the staff meeting, it’s obvious that she’s pissed off about something, he’s stealth-bullying the new receptionist, and those three know a secret. At the restaurant, that boy is scared of his mother, the couple in the corner are unhappy with each other, and the waitress has been crying.
Where’s the off switch?
Off can be a lot to ask when the current of awareness is going strong, or during a situation that requires sticking it out. What about playing with that awareness rather than turning it off?
Remember dioramas? The little ones inside a shoe box turned on its side, plastic figures placed just so. And there are big ones in museums, too. Dioramas generally have a front and a back. You stand in front of a diorama and look at the figures arranged against a background. When you find yourself in awareness overdrive, try this trick: imagine the scene as a diorama. Choose a front and a back. Now imagine a little peephole in the back wall that only you know about. What do you see when you look with your rich imagination and X-ray awareness through that peephole?
At the staff meeting, you may now realize from this new angle that the receptionist who looked so fragile under the bully’s shadow has a Wonder Woman headband in the purse under her chair. At the restaurant, the teary-eyed waitress keeps going behind the bar to stare in adoration at a photo of her Brazilian fiancé, who’s unexpectedly flying back from Rio today, two months earlier than expected, because he misses her. The people we tune in to have secret powers of their own, and stories even richer than those we think we see.
The power of the diorama peephole is that our imaginations can short-circuit the feeling of over-responsibility that comes with X-ray vision. Look through the peephole in the back of the diorama and imagine a better world, indulge your ability to play, and give yourself a break.
“The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.”
~ Al Neuharth
(For bizarre and hilarious examples of diorama art, see Sloane Tanen‘s art and books, including Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens.)
2 Comments
Very creative idea-I have to try it!
Thanks, Marina. If you do try it and you feel like telling me how it went, I’d love to know.