Seeing With Fresh Eyes
The other day, I was out walking in a neighborhood next to mine. And for some reason, I started thinking about the name of the neighborhood that I live in, which is Rose City Park. And the thought occurred to me that it is a lovely, evocative name. This is something I've always known, but forgot.
As I walked I pondered how cool it sounds when someone asks what part of Portland I live in.
"Oh, Rose City Park."
Something about that sounds so elegant. There are roses involved for one thing. And then there is the element of having a city within a city. As if our little enclave is so important it has been elevated to city status, even though we're just a neighborhood. And then you add on the park part and that evokes images of lush green and tall firs. All of which are true about the actual park that lies a few blocks away from my house. It is true of the neighborhood itself, come to think of it. One of the things that drew me here in the first place are the tall firs that tower in nearly every backyard.
But I hadn't thought about the name of the neighborhood for years.
Which got me to thinking. What else do I need to look at with fresh eyes? Are there things in my writing that I need to take a new look at? New genres to try? New worlds to conquer? New skills to develop?
I don't have answers for these questions. But I'm pondering them. And co-incidentally, I'm thinking a bit about going back to the basics. About which I will write tomorrow.
In the meantime, how about you? Have you taken a fresh look at anything recently? If so, what did you see? Or does reading this bring to mind an area you think needs some looking at? Please share.
wordgirl99@gmail.com
Great reminder of the need to keep a fresh perspective! Rose City Park is a lovely name, but for me your example evokes another reality check: My daughter and I passed a road sign for Braintree, a suburb of Boston, and my daughter said, “Brain Tree? That’s kind of a creepy name.” And honestly, I had known that town all my life, had cousins there, even, and I had never “heard” the component parts … Now I can’t think about it without shuddering!
WordGirl/@VerbumEst
DYoung
I love this post. You always give us good reminders to reflect on. That’s why I keep coming back to read.
I’ve got to admit, I’m always so busy looking for the connections in things, that I’ve forgotten to look at those same things with a new eye. Perhaps, if I implemented a fresh approach, things would connect more readily. Maybe not. But it’s certainly worth being more aware of!
Derek
I love your title, so very Zen.
I don’t think I have taken a fresh look at anything recently, it is more of a case of something coming up to me and me seeing it with fresh eyes. Paradoxically… Same difference I suppose. Now I know how something different can be the same! ;-)
I am in mind of my blog writing, and those days where I feel I have said it all and there is nothing more to write about. I realize that of course I indeed have said it all but that there are different ways of communicating the same, unsame realization I am having. Zen always points to one thing… Enlightenment, and the message is.. stay mindful in the here and now and become elightened – there I’ve said it! What more can I say.. The infamous Zen, no-thing, that we are already enlightened, we just need to see it. But for the time being the mind-games go on…
The realization is that all is one. But from this one point of mindful nothing-ness there are all these tentacles, for want of a better word, leading out into existence that my thoughts travel along back and forth, creating more and more ways of communicating about my own particular journey into Zen realization.
One can look at a beatiful scene of roses and become enlightened. One can look at a house brick and become enlightened. In fact there are a myriad of simple everyday objects that can act as a Zen master and enlighten us.
Charlotte Dixon
Derek, Every once in awhile I think I’ve said everything I have to say on a certain topic, and then I’m somehow able to go in and unpack the piece and find more to say. It is sort of like staring at a painting. And both of those things take a great deal of mindfulness to accomplish.
D’Young, Thanks, I’m glad you keep coming back! And yes, I think looking at things with fresh eyes is very much an attitude one needs to be reminded of.
Elizabeth
I’m rereading a favorite novel right now and absorbing it in a fresh way. It’s a huge book, but I can’t put it down, and it’s keeping me up at night, reading, reading, which I love. I’ve also pulled out some good, nonfiction books about writing, and I’m starting to read them from front to back as if I’ve never read them before because this version of me hasn’t read them.
I’m going to have to make up an appealing name for my neighborhood. It’s just the Fifth Ward or, “You know, that little house that needs power washing on the corner of that street and that street near the elementary school that will be torn down this summer, just up from the wine store… .”
I do like the idea of seeing things with fresh eyes, and this does connect to your next post quite well.
Charlotte Dixon
Wordgirl, Somehow I missed your comment earlier, sorry. I’m getting the shivers now that you mention it. Braintree. Creepy.
Elizabeth, I don’t know, the Fifth Ward has a bit of a science fiction feel to it which appeals to me. And your directions are exactly how I navigate, never with streets, always with landmarks, even seedy ones..