This morning I put seed out for the birds (23 degrees – not too bad).  Crunching along the deck I noticed this floe coming off of the deck railing.  How did it become curved?  Why did it angle out as far from the wood as it did?  Why did the composition look different in the top part of the floe?

I wondered about the things that shape us throughout life.  The big things seem like the obvious answer, but I don’t think that’s what does it.  Like this ice, it is the persistent, subtle influences that do the  real shaping — factors I don’t even consider to be shapers: identifying as female, being white, born American, born middle class and midwestern, family beliefs about working hard and doing your “fair share,” etc.

How can I shift my viewpoint to gain a perspective as if outside of those factors? What will I see, feel, (and if I change the belief) experience?