|
Today's
Meditation:
I
rarely allow paper to tell me how to write.
Sometimes it's convenient and helpful to write on the
lines the way that they go on the sheet, but for the most
part I see in paper almost endless possibilities for
expression. I'm in the minority, though, I
know. When I've told my college students to write
however they wish on their paper, 99% of them still insist
on writing with the lines. After all, that's what
they're used to doing, and that's what's easy.
I
can't think of anything positive that comes from that,
though. It's behavior that certainly doesn't get us
into the habit of being able to look at things in new
ways. Some of the best advances in life and
technology come about when people see new ways of doing
old things, or new uses for old tools. Being able to
see things in new ways is a skill that can be practiced,
and if we want to begin the process then we need to start
somewhere, don't we? And what better place than an
ordinary piece of lined paper that can be used in so many
different ways?
A
friend in college had a great influence on me-- he was
majoring in art, and he was able to see almost everything
in different ways. I started to think of him as
walking around everything, seeing it from the sides and
back and bottom and top while everyone else just looked at
it from the front. I admired him for that, and I
took that lesson from him to heart. I do my best
always to look at everything in different ways, and my
life is much richer because of it.
So
the next time you're faced with a piece of lined paper,
take a chance: write perpendicular to the
lines! Write on the lines, write in circles, write
in mirror image-- it doesn't matter what you do, because
you'll be seeing a new way to use something with which
you've become so comfortable that you now take it for
granted. And once you do this, keep it up and try to
see the world for all the potential it offers, rather than
seeing the limitations that a set-in-stone perspective
offers.
|
