Out Of Sight. Out of Mind.

There’s a quote by Antoine De Saint-Exupery taken from the book he wrote, titled, “The Little Prince” that reads, “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

The answer to all mysteries is in your heart. Your heart knows things that your mind cannot explain. We so often associate “sight” with the eyes when our eyes are so easily deceived by appearance or surface level characteristics or frivolous things. What is rightful would be weighed on the basis of heart because sometimes what is relevant is what we cannot see with the eyes, but something that we feel.

Our perception of what meets the eye has no depth, no meaning and is far too shallow. The most valuable things in life cannot be seen with the naked eye: love, integrity, hope, friendship, trust, compassion. These are the things that bring meaning, fulfillment, substance and ever lasting joy to our lives. Things like scent, music, silence and memories add richness to our lives.

But too often, we waste our time and energy chasing things that are visible and right in front of us, hunt for materialistic things and anything aesthetically pleasing to the eye: fast cars, larger checks and more ‘fashionable’ clothing. We dream of a future that includes these things, nothing of the other. We plot and plan to acquire them. We go through great lengths to care for them and become jealous when others have more of them. Yet we still find ourselves nowhere but short of true contentment because these things never really satisfy our souls and bring fulfillment that they promised.

Instead:

• their appeal dims
• their value decreases
• their appearance fades
• their satisfaction diminishes as the days go by.

It’s time to shift our focus. It’s time to allow the invisible to triumph over the visible in our eyes, mind and hearts.

The love we feel for other people is not something we can see, but we know it’s there because we feel it within our hearts. Our eyes are very good at stereotyping but the heart knows how to find the true worth of someone irrespective of what they wear, what they have or what they look like on the outside.

Bottom Line

Don’t look at the shell, but into the core. The best things in life are invisible and free.