Puddle Blues

Often, the way to get unstuck isn’t to change whatever it is you’re looking at—but instead to change how you’re looking at it. ~ You Don’t Need New Ideas, You Need a New Perspective by Oliver Burkeman via 99U

The 99U article played on Marcel Proust’s famous quote about seeing the familiar with new eyes. And, introduced a term that was new to me, “vuja dé,” coined by comedian George Carlin. It means “a strange sense of unfamiliarity in the familiar, thereby revealing opportunities or solutions you hadn’t previously noticed.”

How do we see the unfamiliar in the familiar?

The article suggests a couple of ways – putting physical distance between you and the problem – take a break and do something different – or write about it to see what emerges from the unconscious mind. Betty Edwards, in her classic book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (paid link) suggests upside down drawing which helps eliminate the labels we tend to put on everything.

I like to take walks for a change of perspective. So far this winter, however, I haven’t been feeling very creative or inspired, even on my walks. I haven’t taken many photographs either.

Last weekend, my husband and I went to Ottawa to visit family. The week before, they’d had snow and below freezing temperatures. On this day, the temperature was above freezing and the snow and ice were beginning to thaw, leaving a slushy mess. I went out for a walk in a neighbourhood that was unfamiliar to me and the change of scenery was just what I needed.

I first noticed the puddles on the road and the ice in the field and the way the blue of the sky was reflected in it all. Being on unfamiliar roads helped me to see this familiar sight in a brand new way.

To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour. ~ William Blake

This sparked my imagination and, like William Blake’s grain of sand, I began to see the whole world reflected in those puddles. I saw the “Puddle Blues.” Next, I noticed the texture and rhythm and flow in the ice. It could have been the surface of the moon or snow-capped mountains.

I saw a world of layers and reflections at the side of the road, like I was witnessing below the surface of the earth.

I came back to where I was staying renewed, refreshed, and inspired.