Liquid life
Today I cleaned out my Lady's garage and played with her SP. It was very satisfying.
There were many times when we were playing that she wanted to do something, and believed that she could not. It was the best feeling in the world to draw solutions and strategies out of her with questions. She ended up doing a lot more of what she wanted than she would've if she had remained frozen in "I can't..." She did a lot more herself than she would've if I had done things for her when she asked for help. It was more work for her, but it was more fun, too. For me, it was as refreshing and fulfilling as a glass of liquid life.
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When someone says "I'm entering a new phase of my life...", I believe their phrasing is apt.
It is often said that "matter can be one of three phases- solid, liquid, or gas" and that is something close enough to correct that it bears thinking about. The phase that any piece of matter is in at any moment just comes from two key variables- temperature, and pressure.
Temperature is just the amount of random jiggling that the atoms do. Now- notice that temperature can vary continuously from -273C on up. There's a mystery lurking in there. Ice at -1C looks like ice at -3C. Microscopically, its crystal structure jiggles slightly more, but we humans can't tell the difference. But just two more degrees Celsius, and the ice is no longer ice- it is liquid water. Would another two degrees Celsius produce as dramatic a change? Nope- liquid water at 1C looks very much like water at 3C. What gives? What is the difference?
At -1C, water is solid. Its molecules stay mostly in place, maintaining particular relationships with each other called the "crystal lattice". One particular molecule might be jiggling more than the others, and it might get funny ideas about leaving the crystal structure. But every molecule has three other molecules keeping it in line, bringing it back into place if it attempts to leave. At -1C, every individual molecule is stable because other molecules around it, themselves stable, tell it to be stable. But you can see where this is going.
At 0C, after the ice is disturbed by the heat of fusion (an old term unrelated to atomic fusion), the molecules all seem to wake up at the same time. They realize- the only reason why I'm telling my neighbor to follow the rules is because all of my neighbors are telling me to follow the rules. Screw this! I'm going to go off on my own! And because they are indeed not alone in their decision to violate the crystal structure, they can move freely. At 1C, few of the molecules are keeping any neighbors in line. It is difficult for these changes to happen individually; if they happen many at a time, then each change can facilitate each other change.
The apparently discontinuous changes from solid ice to liquid water can happen because the water molecules all talk to each other. Sometimes they're saying "Stay in line! Do what you are told!" and sometimes they are saying "Party! Do whatever you want!". But in either case, the majority voice makes it easier for the majority, and eventually, almost all of them are saying the same thing.
Likewise, I believe that many variables of our social, mental, and physical lives influence each other to produce "phases of life". For example, I do not believe that the cluster of "symptoms" listed by the DSM-IV to be the effects of a cause called "depression". They are merely some of the variables that talk to each other to produce the observable, stable phase of depression. Negative life events can sometimes steal away our heat of fusion. Thinking concretely about problems and solutions- if necessary, with the help of a guide- supplies us with the heat of fusion.
There were many times when we were playing that she wanted to do something, and believed that she could not. It was the best feeling in the world to draw solutions and strategies out of her with questions. She ended up doing a lot more of what she wanted than she would've if she had remained frozen in "I can't..." She did a lot more herself than she would've if I had done things for her when she asked for help. It was more work for her, but it was more fun, too. For me, it was as refreshing and fulfilling as a glass of liquid life.
-------------
When someone says "I'm entering a new phase of my life...", I believe their phrasing is apt.
It is often said that "matter can be one of three phases- solid, liquid, or gas" and that is something close enough to correct that it bears thinking about. The phase that any piece of matter is in at any moment just comes from two key variables- temperature, and pressure.
Temperature is just the amount of random jiggling that the atoms do. Now- notice that temperature can vary continuously from -273C on up. There's a mystery lurking in there. Ice at -1C looks like ice at -3C. Microscopically, its crystal structure jiggles slightly more, but we humans can't tell the difference. But just two more degrees Celsius, and the ice is no longer ice- it is liquid water. Would another two degrees Celsius produce as dramatic a change? Nope- liquid water at 1C looks very much like water at 3C. What gives? What is the difference?
At -1C, water is solid. Its molecules stay mostly in place, maintaining particular relationships with each other called the "crystal lattice". One particular molecule might be jiggling more than the others, and it might get funny ideas about leaving the crystal structure. But every molecule has three other molecules keeping it in line, bringing it back into place if it attempts to leave. At -1C, every individual molecule is stable because other molecules around it, themselves stable, tell it to be stable. But you can see where this is going.
At 0C, after the ice is disturbed by the heat of fusion (an old term unrelated to atomic fusion), the molecules all seem to wake up at the same time. They realize- the only reason why I'm telling my neighbor to follow the rules is because all of my neighbors are telling me to follow the rules. Screw this! I'm going to go off on my own! And because they are indeed not alone in their decision to violate the crystal structure, they can move freely. At 1C, few of the molecules are keeping any neighbors in line. It is difficult for these changes to happen individually; if they happen many at a time, then each change can facilitate each other change.
The apparently discontinuous changes from solid ice to liquid water can happen because the water molecules all talk to each other. Sometimes they're saying "Stay in line! Do what you are told!" and sometimes they are saying "Party! Do whatever you want!". But in either case, the majority voice makes it easier for the majority, and eventually, almost all of them are saying the same thing.
Likewise, I believe that many variables of our social, mental, and physical lives influence each other to produce "phases of life". For example, I do not believe that the cluster of "symptoms" listed by the DSM-IV to be the effects of a cause called "depression". They are merely some of the variables that talk to each other to produce the observable, stable phase of depression. Negative life events can sometimes steal away our heat of fusion. Thinking concretely about problems and solutions- if necessary, with the help of a guide- supplies us with the heat of fusion.