Open or Closed?

A Place for the Eye to Rest is intended to create a space to generate thought. The articles don't intend to create answers but to present places for readers to encounter their own thoughts.

Open, Close

There is a game that has been used in the classroom. Various object lessons that are taught through the game, depending on where the students are academically, behaviorally, and with mental age and attitude. It teaches many things to students, reaching them “where they are” and can also teach many things to adults. The name of the game is “Open, Close”. Perhaps you have played it. Hopefully this article will inspire you to think about the lesson from an adult perspective and consider its lessons deeply and personally. It is an object lesson that teaches listening, thinking, planning and thought skills. This game is self-reflective or can be used as a jumping off point for debriefing and expressing learning.

The Process:

First do a survey of your space. Gather things that represent HOME and various INTANGIBLES. Something that represents a home could be an object shaped like a house, or a picture of a house. Next find something that is a representation of love. It might be a heart sculpture (that fits in your hand) or a picture that represents family love, romantic love, or spiritual love. Find something that represents money. It might be money itself.

If you can’t find things that represent these things, cut or draw a shape to represent them, or just write the words on a piece of paper. Include HOME, LOVE, MONEY, JOB or CAREER, HEALTH, etc. Think of something that is personally important to you. A car? A college degree? The completion of vocational training, community recognition, culture change, knowledge. It might be anything that is specifically of value to you. Find a representational object if you can, or write it on a piece of paper.

Set all your gathered objects and goals on the table in front of you and sit back and relax.

Rest both hands on the table in front of you. They represent your mind with one hand and your heart with the other. From where you sit, you can reach out with one hand and touch one or more of the representations in front of you. They are attainable. You can reach them with your heart or your mind. Reaching out with either hand requires a commitment on your part. You must command your arm to extend your hand toward the object of its focus. It is intentional.

The purpose of moving your hands toward the objects is to attain them. Since they are right there in front of you, it seems easy. It is easy to move your arms and easy to obtain the object. All you must do is send the command to your hands and create the movement.

Now picture in your mind that there is a screen between you and the objects. The screen is full of holes in various locations. This screen represents barriers to touching and attaining the objects. In order to reach the objects you must put either your heart hand or your mind hand through one of the holes in the screen. Now it is a little harder to obtain the items. You must not only extend your arms and hands but must select a hole and purposefully reach through it to reach the item. There is some effort required to find a hole at an appropriate level, get through the barrier and access the object.

Further complications!

Imagine the screen has vanished and the objects are once again easily accessible. With one hand, either heart or mind, reach out and pick up an item. Without dropping it, pick up another object with the same hand. How many of the desired objects can you pick up, using just one hand. Two items? Three or more? All of them? It is very hard to pick them all up, using just one hand. Only a few are obtainable. It forces you to assess your abilities and to prioritize the objects.

Now use both hands. Apply what ever technique appeals to you. Using both hands you can stack or layer the objects on one hand and use the other to pick them up. You can separate them and hold them separately in both hands. Everyone’s technique is different. This picking up and holding is so much more effective when using both hands, the heart and the mind. Using both hands, it is possible to pick up all or most of the desired objects and hold them.

The screen again!

Place the objects back on the table. Now imagine that the screen has reappeared. It represents a barrier between you and the objects. As before, the screen has holes in it at various points and will allow you to access the objects.

Now you have a new choice. You can approach obtaining the objects by using one hand, or by using two hands. After the previous exercises, you now know that using two hands, heart and mind working together is the most effective way to approach this challenge.

Assume you are using two hands to obtain the objects. The task takes on new things to consider. Which two holes should you select? Holes close together? High holes? Low holes? Pick two that seem appropriate to you and proceed with the challenge of picking up all the items. Techniques learned in previous exercises will be helpful and techniques discarded in previous exercises need not be applied.

Depending on the sizes and shapes of the articles that you originally gathered, you may have to prioritize which of the articles you will choose to pick up. Perhaps the original representation of the house that you selected is too big and will not fit in your hand along with other desired objects. A smaller house might be a better choice when selecting items. Perhaps your representation of a car is not working for you now. It might be uncomfortable to hold or is not compatible with the house or job you have selected. Things to think about when making selections! Useful knowledge when making real life selections of job, love, money, home, etc

Now gather as many of the desired objects as you can with both hands as you reach through the imaginary screen. Note how you prioritized the items. Were choices made based on ease of acquisition, utility, ease of handling, intrinsic value, monetary value. What were your priorities?

Consider the basics.

Return the items to the table and your hands to your lap. Lay your hands out on the table in front of you. Look at them as you have placed them. You placed them without any instruction. Remember that they represent your heart and your mind. Are they open or closed?

Let’s now close both hands. Tightly. Make them into a fist. Keep them lying on the table in front of you.

Have a second person pick up one of the desired items from your pile and place it in your tightly fisted hand. This probably does not work very well. They may be able to squeeze an item under one of your fingers or into your palm, but it takes effort on their part and force to get it into a secure place in your hand. There is resistance. Certainly, they cannot place many of the desired objects into your tightly fisted hands. This is what happens when you heart and/or mind are tightly closed. You cannot easily pick things up, and it is a concerted effort for anyone else to secure anything in your heart or mind,…err, hands!

Remove desired objects back to the pile. Now place your heart and mind hands open on the table with palms up. Your helper can place a desired object in the palm of your hand. Because it is open, it takes almost no effort on the helper’s part, and the object lies comfortably in your palm. More than one object can be placed in each palm. Perhaps all desired objects can be placed in your palms. If you have chosen your desired objects carefully and they are compatible, the likelihood of them all fitting in your palms is high. But how secure are they? Lift your hands off the tabletop. The desired objects may fall off and be lost. The open palms, or open heart and mind are certainly more useful in obtaining desired objects but may still not be the best way of obtaining and retaining the desired objects.

Now place your open hands, your open heart and mind, close together, palms up on the table. Your helper again places the desired objects on your palms. Perhaps there is an order in the placement of the objects that would make this more efficient. Think about it and advise your helper. Once most or all the desired items are on the palms of your hands, curl your fingers around the items and hold them as securely as you can. Raise your hands off the table. Is there less chance of them falling? Do they feel more secure? You have more control when you have heart and mind working together and they are open to receive your desired items.

“Open, Close” can give us unexpected lessons in life. Using heart and mind together works better than using them separately. Reaching desired objects requires effort and intention. Obstacles are a part of the process in life, and can come between your heart and mind and your desired objects. There are ways to get through barriers. Heart and mind working together achieve desired objects despite barriers. Advanced planning and consideration of the nature of desired objects can affect how obtainable they are. Open and closed hearts and minds play a role in how successful your efforts are. Open hearts, open minds, effort, planning and careful selection and consideration of how to approach barriers all play a positive role in achieving desired outcomes. We have a lot to learn from a children’s game if we are open to learning it.