Seeing Beyond the Usual

Sitting at the beach in my chair reading an article about writers I remember that I’m supposed to be observant. Being observant gives you ideas from which to write. So putting my magazine down I begin looking around. I see sand, people, children playing, beach chairs, umbrellas, water, waves -- it all looks pretty usual to me.

But then I observe something quite ingenious. In fact when we first settled in our family circle on the sand I had noticed this bit of ingenuity and was quite intrigued. Next to us in the sand a couple had carved out their own beach chairs made of sand. They dug a whole deep and wide enough in which to sit. Then they took the displaced sand and piled it high enough to lean against as if it were the back of their chair. They laid their colorful beach towel the length of the sand chair thereby making a comfortable custom made beach chair. Lying comfortably back they sat as if in a lounge chair. Ingenious, that’s what it is.

I then begin looking around for more signs of ingenuity. There are Wonder Wheels all around us – carts that could hold lawn chairs, beach bags, umbrella, coolers and almost anything you could hang from the side or pile on top and then you just push or pull it back to your car. How ingenious is that? No more multiple trips back and forth from the car to beach.

Next my eyes fall on a tent umbrella. Two small children are napping under the umbrella with tent-like flaps weighted in the sand to protect from wind, sand and sun. One umbrella has a four-cup rack surrounding its stake. What will they think of next?

Beach chairs are all around me but I had never noticed the ingenuity of their evolution. Years ago the chairs were just like our lawn chairs and high off the ground. Now you sit close to the sand with many styles and variations – cup holder in the arm, cup holder on the side, umbrella attached to the back, mesh pocket on the side in which to put spray lotion, pen, magazine; or there’s the backpack like pocket the whole width and length of the back of the chair and a chair bag in which to put the collapsible chair so you can sling it over your shoulder. Hmm, I can’t wait to see the next evolutionary aspect.

I pretty much thought I had seen it all when I turn my chair around and sitting in front of me is an older couple with identical chairs. Between them is a small teal table the style of a TV tray but shorter, and on top are two bottles of soda. Maybe it’s not convenient but it’s ingenious.

How many times do we miss the obvious among the common? Our perceptions are stuck on automatic so we assume our normal thinking patterns. All the while there is another perception, another view or a deeper meaning waiting to be observed. You don’t have to be a writer to be observant; just alive and alert. Who knows you may break out of a rut, see something wonderful in your husband, or come up with a brilliant idea. Try it today and see what lies beyond the usual.