Last week, I went out to California to tape a segment for the Hallmark Channel (hence the fancy photo that accompanies this post).

One of the concepts they found most interesting is the idea that the eye you are looking into as you deliver your message can influence how it is received.

(Having read that, it’s possible some of you may want off the Wow train: “It’s been fun,” you may say, “but we are now headed into territory so peculiar it’s obvious Frances has exchanged her conductor’s hat for a jester’s.”)

Stay with me.

Here’s the thing, according to Ayurvedic—Indian—medicine, the right side of your body is governed by fire, the left side of your body is governed by water. The right is about deciding, commanding, defending. The left is about receiving, accepting, surrendering. If you’re willing to accept that, consider that your eyes could be a place where these two aspects of fire and water are visible.

Now, if you’re really interested– or skeptical– go to a mirror and look into your left eye. Feel what comes up when you do. Then switch, and look into your right eye and notice what you feel when you do. It’s possible you’ll find that your left eye is warmer, more inviting, while your right tends to be challenging.

“OK,” you’re thinking, “So I did the exercise” (or you didn’t), “what am I supposed to do with the information?”

Well, now that you know it, it could be that the next time you want to convey to another person that your intention and your message is genuine, trustworthy, sincere, etc…you could make a point of looking into their left eye while you do this. If you were to do that, it’s possible they would accept what you were saying more readily. If you wanted to issue a challenge, or convey that what you were saying was not negotiable, you might look into their right eye when you said it. It’s entirely up to you, but I’m guessing they would realize more quickly that their compliance was mandatory.

Do with this information what you will. My point is that there’s no downside to checking it out. You don’t need to announce it (or heaven forbid, put it up on your blog), you can simply, literally, see what happens.