Breaking out

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. Edward de Bono

Eggs break. Ice breaks. Hearts break. Dawn breaks. Robbers break in and convicts break out. Cars break down. Business breaks even. We break out the good crystal and break up fights. We break off relations and break through barriers.

In a world of seeming permanence, we are constantly breaking. Open, into, up and down. Breaking out of situations we never imagined possible. Breaking into laughter. Breaking down in tears. Breaking.

Einstein said he was so fascinated with science not because of science but rather because he wanted to understand God. He wanted to break open the secrets of the Universe to be closer to God. In the process he broke open the vault of impossibility and made the impossible happen.

Every morning I drive to my office along my standard route. Some mornings I remember to keep my eyes peeled for the unusual, the beautiful, the moving on my journey, but generally, I get into the routine of driving to work, always taking the same route.

Yesterday morning, I decided to shake it up. To travel a different route -- without worrying that it would take me three whole more minutes than my standard path. Where normally I would drive straight, I veered to the right, followed the serpentine road under the freeway into the downtown core and turned left then right to take the route that follows the river.

The flowing water sparkled in the sunlight. Ducks bobbed on rippling waves. Trees blossomed, their fragile buds creating a filigree of green against the blue sky above. Birds fluttered in every branch. At one point, an oncoming car and I had to stop to allow a Canada Goose to waddle across the road between us. We both smiled and waved as the Goose cleared the intersection and we continued on our way in opposite directions.

Two people lifted up by the theatre of the absurd in a Goose Crossing.

As I pulled into our parkade I felt lighter. Less focused on my day ahead but rather content in the moment I was experiencing.

I had broken out of a pattern of driving and being that I had unconsciously assumed some months before. Get in car. Back out of driveway. Drive down lane way. Turn left where it meets main road. Turn right at intersection. Continue north to 26th ave. Drive east. Blah blah blah blah blah.

I was driving to work in autopilot. My mind sifting through things to do, places to be, people to speak to in the hours ahead. In my autopilot I was locked into a way of being that was restricting my movement. I was missing the joy in the moment of being on my path.

The question is: Are you willing to break out of your established patterns to see the world from a new perspective? Are you willing to break open your box to get to the other side?