Episode 100: You Must Make Eye Contact to Save You

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation Podcast. I am Thomas Anglero and I'm pumped up today and I've been going for a walk and I had a massive reflection today. I went for a walk today and people were outside. There was sun, so everybody was outside, even though it was extremely cold during this winter. Um, and the lake near us, the pond had frozen. And for the years that I've been living in this neighborhood, I've never walked across this pond in the wintertime. So I went out there and I walked across the ice in the pond, and all these families are playing and ice skating, and there's all this wonderful stuff and everything. And people are looking, and you— and I look at people and they look at me and they turn their heads away and almost break their neck doing so. And I look at other people who are huddled in their family and they're not talking to anybody else, and if they are Well, they're not. It's a pond full of people, but everybody's huddled within their own little nucleus. They're with their kid, they're with their husband, their wife, but no one socializing outside of their circle. Let me tell you something. These last months, we're in the time of COVID and I want to put everything in perspective. You know, the COVID years, How long is this thing going to go on? Depending upon when you listen to this, it may be a joke about how many that COVID won. These people complain about now we're at COVID-12 or COVID, you know, whatever, right? Look at it from this perspective. A virus and a flu have been around forever. What the hell makes this difference? The last year we've all been locked up and away from people. The first real day of sunlight comes out, you get to go outside, you get to be social, you get to be with people. And you're not social, you lost your opportunity. What the hell are you gonna do now for the next 6 months, next year? And you think somebody's gonna magically knock on your door and you think you can open it because you met your quota of people that you're not allowed to interact with? Don't— I've seen now that people have gone from being scared and now they're into some sort of a miniature shell. Don't you understand what you're doing to yourselves? You have to do the exact opposite. Let me flip this whole conversation around. You have to be this magnanimous person. You have to go out there and make eye contact with people. That's step number 1. Look at people. When you're walking down the street, make damn eye contact. Because you're missing out on an opportunity. You've been stuck inside your house forever being locked down, and you don't even look at people anymore? Can you honestly tell me what was the color of the eyes of the people that walked by you today in the street? I'm waiting. Can you describe the clothing around their neck? What color shirt? What color sweater? What color blouse she had? You can't, because people don't even lift up their heads anymore. People don't even recognize other people anymore. And you wonder why you're lonely. You wonder why you miss people so much. I walked by tons of people, and when I walk by people, I make eye contact. It's what I do. It's the way I walk down the street because I'm living. Hello, how are you? You do that with your eyes. You don't have to say it because it freaks out a lot of people. Just say hi. It freaks out people. In Norway, in the culture, you don't say hi to a stranger. People think you're weird. In New York City, it's absolutely fine. And down south in the United States, You have to, or they think you're extremely rude. Culture is everything. But at least down south, those people don't feel lonely because they know they go outside for a walk, and even if they're experiencing COVID, they're going to talk. They're going to feel like they're social. But in cultures all over the world that you don't even make eye contact, you're feeling so lonely. So what I'm trying to say is this: in 2021 and 2022 and beyond, It is up to you. I want you to look at people. I want you to lift your head. I want you to make eye contact. Maybe your entire life you've had an excuse because of my culture. I don't make eye contact. Well, let me tell you something right now. Bullshit. It's your fault. Make eye contact. You want to be seen? Make eye contact. You want to be loved? Start with eye contact. I'm not asking you to do anything weird. I'm actually doing anything bizarre. I'm not asking you to hold somebody's hand that you don't know. You'd probably get slapped. Or punched, depending upon what country you're in, or worse. I'm asking you to make eye contact. Is that so much? I can literally see people out there going, "I don't do that." When's the last time you made eye contact with someone you didn't want to sleep with? How's that one calling you bullshit? When's the last time you made eye contact? Not at work. In your social life outside of that, when you have the freedom to do whatever you want. At work, you have to make eye contact because you're having a discussion with someone. When you're in the street, you don't have to, and that's when you have to. I want you to have the most amazing 2021, 2022, and beyond, but I want you to start making eye contact. I want you to start touching people. The eyes are the windows to the soul. When's the last time you shared your soul with someone else? Get it? So many families, so many moms, so many dads went by today. So little eye contact. No one looks. No one dares make eye contact. Let me clue you and wake up all you to one very important Mother Nature fact: viruses are not distributed via eye contact. You will not get COVID by looking at somebody. I hope you're laughing at yourself, because what other reason is it that you don't want to look at someone and say hi, and return, that person looks at you and says hi? Do you understand? Your loneliness, your separation from society, your sickness of being at home and all this stuff is reflected of how much you've not given to other people. So just make eye contact. Got it? Go forth and spread beauty and light and make eye contact. I know this sounds ridiculous, but that's where you start. This is the great reset, the great reset of another chance. We finally have a chance to say, you know what, the hell with the culture, the hell with my parents brought me up, the hell with my insecurities. I need to start loving again, and I need people to start loving me. I'm bored. I'm tired of this stuff. I need to have the life that I've always dreamt. When I go to bed at night and have these dreams of me being this dynamic, amazing person, I'm gonna make that happen. And the way I make that happen, step number one is eye contact. That's what you got to do. That's who you are. Go forth, spread beauty, light, and make eye contact in 2021 and 2022 and beyond. You are it. Got it? Wonderful. Good. This is Thomas Anglero. I look forward to seeing you. And when I see you, I will see you. Take care. Until next time. Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter. Or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.