The Serious Mirth Society

We should warn you—it can be very dangerous to stick googly eyes on things.

Not because they’re hard to put on—all it takes is a little tape—but because once you see a thing as having a face, it’s difficult to see a thing as just some-thing anymore. It becomes some-one. Which is what can make them a little hard to take off—to unsee what you’ve seen. Which is good.

And so, dangerous or not, we advise doing it anyway.

Because it’s important.

And it’s fun.

We recommend starting with something you don’t eat, like your shoes. (Though if you have a habit of nibbling your shoes, we do recommend you see a dentist. And/or a cobbler. No, not that kind of cobbler.)

But seriously, stick a pair of googly eyes to your shoes and wear them around for a while. Spend a week imagining what the world looks like to them. What the ground feels like to them. Smells like. Where did they come from before they met you? What do they think of this place? Of you? Of your feet?

At some point along the way, if you’re listening, they’ll usually tell you all sorts of things. Like maybe their names. Or what they like. Or what they don’t. Maybe one of them prefers hard concrete and the other soft grass, which will finally help you explain to your friends why you always have to walk with one shoe on and one shoe off the path. Your shoes like it that way.

What else do they like? Are they fond of they way they hug your feet? Do they feel brave when they save you from sharp-edged rocks? Do they like the whoosh when you swing your feet up in the air? And how do they feel about dancing?

This could also help explain about your dancing.

Once you see your shoes as somebodies, you’ll see the world differently. Or maybe you’ll just see more—like where you’re walking (to avoid squishing ants), or eww, whatever it was you just stepped in.

Spend a week getting to know your shoes. Because you know they didn’t just magically change when you added eyeballs. They were just as alive before. It’s you that changed. It changed how you see everything—every thing you thought was just a thing but really wasn’t.

It’s a great game to play, and there are so many levels. After you’ve gotten to know your shoes, you have our permission to start playing with your food. (Pro tips: Don’t wear your food on your feet, and don’t eat the googly eyes.)

After you spend a lot of time with your food and can effortlessly imagine what it’s like to be a lime, well, then you graduate to animals, and then, eventually, to people. Both of which, you’ll notice, already come equipped with eyeballs, so you can just imagine seeing through theirs. And since they already have mouths, when you ask them questions, you’ll be really good at listening for their answers.

And once you’ve imagined being another person and can see them more fully, maybe you can give them googly eyes to put on their shoes. Because they might be wondering about yours.