I've noticed lately that my eye contact is shit. I'm ALWAYS looking down first no matter who I look at. This is in stark contrast to the person I was just 3 years ago when I would stare at people and find myself making more connections because of it. Well, since finding this subreddit, I've been reading a lot of field reports and in particular ones that focus on how to improve eye contact. I work at a grocery store and so I have a lot of opportunities to practice. Today, I woke up and told myself that I would hold eye contact with at least three women. It's a good time of year because the college students have returned and so there are a lot more people my age in the store. As it turned out, I made eye contact with more than 3 women today. When you start to get the hang of it, it really does get easier. Here are two of the more intense scenarios:

Scenario I: I was walking to the back of the store when I noticed a really cute HB7 in the salsa aisle . As I walked by, she turned to look at me and we held eye contact until I was out of view. Upon returning from the back of the store, I caught a glimpse of her walking out of the produce aisle toward the registers. I thought to myself that I probably blew a chance to try again with her thinking she was leaving. But just as I was turning down another aisle, I saw her look at me from the side of her eye again. Then she turns her cart and follows me down the aisle. I started facing the freezers and she just hung out behind me watching me work. I turned around and smiled at her wondering if I was in her way. Finally, after about 3 minutes, we both go to open the same freezer door and she apologizes for being in my way. I tell her, "You're fine. Did you need help with anything?" She says, "No," but she still isn't moving. After about 30 seconds, she taps my shoulder and I turn to look at her. I immediately dive into her brown eyes and I look from eye to eye. I'm feeling butterflies and I'm aware that a smile is slowly spreading across my face. Funny thing is, she was doing the exact same thing to me. Her gaze was as intense as mine and I noticed her looking at both my eyes and the smile slowly crept up on her face as well. While all this was happening, she asked, "Is this the only pizza dough you have?" But because of the intensity with which we were staring at each other and the creeping smiles, her question kind of trailed off. There was a pause between us as we both were smiling at each other in a blissful moment of intimate eye contact and when I finally came to I answered as any employee would and moved on. As I walked away, I looked back and she was still staring at me.

Scenario II: I noticed an HB9 in the produce section, but there was no eye contact until we randomly crossed paths. I was walking down the soda aisle and she was walking by the aisle when she spotted me and turned back to ask me a question. I walked up to her, thought to myself "Make eye contact and don't break it" and looked at her from one eye to the next. As she was asking where the shredded coconut was she actually managed to stumble over her words. I think she began to notice my intense gaze into her eyes because she apologized, tilted her head, twirled her hair, and then repeated her question with a smile. In my head, I thought, "HOLY SHIT! DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!"

Conclusion: My intent was to focus strictly on eye contact and see how wide the doors could actually open for further seduction. I had never tried looking from eye to eye before, but that seemed like the key to make it obvious to the other person that I was focusing and engaged with them. Sometimes I would just look at the bridge of the nose or look at one eye and it got a neutral response, but looking from eye to eye changed the dynamic altogether. I hope to level this up and try the full Triangle Gaze.