How's Your View?

This afternoon, I plan to spend a couple of hours bent over in the willow bed looking at the bases of plants as I harvest them. Tomorrow, I'll spend a few more hours in the studio looking at the individual willows I cut today and sorting them by quality and size and utility. In these two tasks, I see the material from completely different points of view. Ah, I love the smell of metaphors in the springtime.

Even though I don't use much willow in my fiber art or teaching any more, the willow harvest is still an important ritual for me. The repetitive tasks of cutting and sorting give me time to reflect on pieces I've put on hold, classes I'm developing, and ideas that are incubating. An idea that's been bubbling up to the surface a lot lately is point of view.

One element that's been factoring into this stew of ideas about point of view comes from a Tumblr microblog called Science Is Beauty. One day it's a post of a micrographic image, another it's something like this animation of an iceberg collision seen from space, which originally appeared at Wired Science.

Out in the willow bed where my hands are full, I don't stop to make lists. I just reflect and let my mind wander. And it seems to work for me. Perhaps it's because all the blood rushes to my brain when I'm bent over? Maybe not. I'll think about that, too, while I cut today.

What tasks help you reflect and get perspective?