When I look out of
my office window, I see a new fence and a garden with its first flush of green.
Beyond that is a kite-flying field where a helicopter once landed — out of the
blue.
Unless you’re
presently serving time in an office cubicle or the state pen, I’m pretty sure
you have a window, too.
Take a gander out of yours.
What do you see? I bet I
know…
Stories…
Poems…
Paintings…
And musical
compositions!
Any time you need a
super-fast jump-start on any artistic endeavor, just remember that glassy gap
in the wall.
No window?
No worries! There’s
a figurative window, too. And you always have that one, no
matter where you roam.
Part of its view is
often occupational.
As a writer, I
typically see ideas for articles, stories, or poems out of this little porthole
of mine — regardless of the scenery.
But I didn't always
have this view.
Back when I was a
neuropsychology intern, I used a much different sort of window. When I viewed
the world through that pane, I saw…
Brain damage!
Yep, I could have
been looking at a tree, a piano, or a house cat, but trust me, it had
impairment potential. My coworkers and I often joked that it was a miracle we
could even get through our days unscathed — walking around in the world as we
did without helmets or suits of bubble wrap.
Of course, we were
all pretty sleep-deprived.
Meanwhile, the
psychiatry residents were “catching” every mental illness through their
occupational windows. And one nurse on the burn unit refused to use a stove...
“It’s not dinner, if it’s not microwavable!” She would say with a fist pump.
Of course, my
fellow interns and I didn't pipe up about all of the brain-damaging chemicals
that are potentially released via microwave cookery.
Anyway,
occupational or otherwise, it should be no big surprise that the figurative
window you look out through, determines your outlook on
life.
Here's an example from literature…
“Good morning, Pooh
Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily.
“If it is a good morning,” he said.
“Which I doubt.”
Yet here’s a
different window in the very same house –
“The sky is perfect
blue.
The clouds are perfect, too.
And here I am with
you!
What could be more
right?”
sang Winnie the Pooh.
Ah, poor Eeyore –
forever suffering…
from a wee bit of
window “pain.”
PROMPT: What’s
outside your window? This is a great place to start a bit of art. Then try
somebody else’s view for a change. How do farmers see the world? Astronauts?
Slugs? What does that garden see, when it looks back at me? Hmmm….
