Wish you were spHERE -“Out of the box”

Welcome to the first of our “Out of the Box” TamBlog series. 

To begin, let’s start with the origin of the term, “Think outside of the box” . It comes from the famous nine-dot problem originally formulated in 1914 by Sam Llyod’s “Cyclopedia of Puzzles” and goes like this: In the picture below, connect all the dots using no more than four straight lines and without lifting your writing implement from the paper.  As a hint, you will need to think “outside the box” to do this successfully. And so it continues, those who take the hint get it and those who don’t eventually give up. If you’ve never been asked to solve this problem before, maybe give it a try now. If you solve it, go ahead and skip this blog and catch our next one. 

In thinking about building Mount Tam Media and what we wanted to share with you, the one thing that’s always been at the center of our mission was to bring to our readers and viewers alternative viewpoints on everyday topics.  It all started when we began interviewing people for our local publication, MIll Valley Living magazine. Residents in the community nominate each month an individual or family from the community they feel the other residents should know about and/or will find interesting. Naturally, many of the nominees have already been labeled as “Olympians” Healers “Musicians”, “Philanthropists”, “Authors” “Entrepreneurs”, but when asked a few “out of the box” questions during our interviews, we started uncovering hidden treasures. You can find some of their stories in the Tam Titans section of our website.

This blog is therefore going to be an on-going series where we encourage everyone to start exploring new ways to evolve out of the boxes we’ve found ourselves in, reuniting with our community and the world as nature intended, “sphere”ically… 

Look around next time you go outside, and count how many right angled objects or “boxes” you can observe. It seems everything humans have created are in boxes or block shapes. Streets are divided into blocks. Windows, doors, walls, furniture, books, even the frames we place beautiful art in are hung in box shaped frames. Computer screens, phones, TV’s and the way we organize the thoughts each of them generate are also boxed.  We create graphs and charts, 3D is plotted on an XYZ axis. The list goes on and on…

Next look at nature, it’s all made up of “spheres,” Atmosphere, Biosphere, (that’s us) Hydroshpere, Geosphere, and the interactions of each are what drive all of Earth’s processes. It therefore makes sense that when uninterrupted, life flows in perfect rhythm with itself. It’s my belief that if we all tried harder to mimic what nature has provided as a proven template, instead of building things and processes which are completely counterintuitive to nature, or in other words, counterintuitive to ourselves, humans are after all part of the Biosphere, Not to mention, boxes are not a safe place to reside, unless your box is equipped with cross beams that is.

If any of this makes sense to you, here are a few suggestions, compliments of fellow residents who share in our mission to Explore, Unite, and Evolve.

Tami Larson, CEO & Publiser Mount Tam Media

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality”

R. Buckminster Fuller

COME   TO   YOUR   SENSES   

All senses of perception unify in the brain as the antenna of our consciousness interacts with the natural world. As we continue to transcend our “covid” habitats, there’s a lot of buzz around music festivals and concerts again, so no better time than now, to discuss a condition many great musicians are coming out and claiming they have; Synesthesia. In the past, Synesthesia has been defined as a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses, stimulates several of your senses. It has also been a condition many have felt the need to hide; however, it is actually a fabulous synergy of overlapping sensations that can increase one’s awareness of life in all aspects of the world we experience. Developing the neural connections that enhance sensing brings a more fluid knowledge of one’s place as an integral part of our whole as humans in and of nature. 

Most of us would agree that we have learned to deconstruct our perceived world into boxes of seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling. Coming to your senses means opening the sides of the boxes to allow in more wholeness and an interweaving of that which is already connected. 

Recently several well-known artists such as Pharrell Williams and Lorde have announced they have this condition and feel it’s what has fueled the level of creativity and in turn, the level of success they’ve achieved. 

More and more it seems there is a coming together and readiness of people in Mill Valley and beyond to expand and promote all forms of creative synergy versus diffuse it.  

If you or anyone you know has this condition or if you are just curious about new ways to expand your own senses,  please check out https://linktr.ee/stefanieschwartzartist for more information.

Isabella Welch

Blogger Mount Tam Media