The Vulture Stare

Thinking about interactions I've had in the past and as I thought about them, I recall with almost every single one of them, I've noticed that there's a certain look that person or those people give me while I'm talking to them, and I often wonder what is it I'm doing that's making them look at me like that.  I knew it had to do something with my expression, and then I remembered a time when I was probably somewhere around twelve, perhaps a year or two older, that my dad used to say that I had vulture eyes whenever I looked at him.  At that age, I took that to mean that I was staring at him too much, but I'd since realized there was more behind it: I give penetrating looks.  So what actually goes on in the mind of a person who looks at people so intensely?  I suppose I can't speak for all people, but on my part, there's nothing you need to be afraid of.  I'll try to explain what it's like for me, and there are two ways it might happen.

1. An outward transition: This means that the focal subject (or person) becomes more vivid, more physical, if that makes any sense to anyone.  His or her face or body becomes more substantial.  It's quite difficult to explain.  This doesn't happen a lot, or at least I'm not aware of it occurring frequently, but it's always an interesting sensation when it occurs.  Last time I remember it happening, the person I was looking at caught me and I think it threw him off guard for a second.
2. An inward transition: This is when the focus ends up tapping into the speaker's emotions or thoughts.  This happens more frequently, often when in conversation one on one, perhaps one or two more people.

As in both cases, there's a type of tunnel vision that occurs, but it's not visually based.  The room is still there, and I know it is, it's just that the main focus is completely and wholly focused on the person speaking, and nothing else is important at the moment.  It's during this moment of focus when these transitions occur, and during that moment there's an upsurge of emotion also.  Sometimes it's interpreted as peace or contentment, or sometimes affection or love (to clarify, not romantic), perhaps a few other closely related, but whatever it is at the moment, it's quite calming.