A common question these days…and it needs to be addressed (particularly in a 3 year) …is how to think outside the box. The number for a box is 4. Four is symbolized by a square and four-sided squares certainly resemble a box. So pretty much, our lives are filled with 4s.
For us lucky ones who have homes, unless our house is round or we live in a yurt, its filled with rooms that are square…maybe oblong… but if it has corners, basically its a box.
We drive our (pretty much box-like) cars on streets which are laid out as straight as possible with angles intersecting the straight lines — few cities have circles. And once we had the opportunity to “jump on the freeway” we no longer used roads that meadered. Then we drive to stores or office buildings that are…boxes! where some people even work in cubicles.
Lately, when I get an idea that might be totally obvious to anyone other than myself, I recognise that I exchanged my “tunnel-vision” for a new possibility. That happened to me this morning!
Now that I’m living in Santa Fe, I am in the smallest apartment in my rememberable history. My square computer sits on a square desk in my square bedroom in my square little house. Actually, now that I think about it, it shares the same room with my square bed and some other square furniture.
And with days and days of cold, grey, snowy weather, I’m staying home a lot and feeling stiffled. This morning, I rearranged all the furniture. When I first moved in, I thought this arrangement was the only way and never saw any other possibilites until today! Whew! Boy! Did I need that! I’m now enjoying sitting at my computer when just yesterday, I was feeling “boxed” – in.
Sooo…I have solutions to living outside the box: 1st one is to think round…not only bring more circles into your life but vary your pathways and don’t take the straight path if you can avoid it! Another plan is to not do the same old familiar thing, but ask yourself…how many other ways can this be done!
Comfort zones may be comfortable but having to think wakes up our brains. Straight may be faster…but so what? Its not always the most fun!
What wise advice! Think new and round …my motto for today! Love, Bonnie
Great post. Love your play on geometric shapes. For the longest time I’m continuing to become architecturally disterested in walls that come to a point as they make corners, traditional furniture, conventional commercial design, etc… and think your observation about “4″ makes lotsa sense. Santa Fe definitely has this same predisposition.
Dear Ruth, as it turns out, this is a 4 year for me, so your rambling was of special interest to me. To me, four means nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel and it’s pretty darn impossible to do anything in that position. So, taking the roundabout way, instead of the straight and narrow, might be a very effective way for me to deal with the next 11 months.
Love, Alma