Spatial accommodation for getting it right

Conversations with my mother have always been so blunt and frustrating; probably because her idea of a witticism is epitomised in the joke: ‘why did the koala fall out of the tree… because it was dead.’ Any comedian would have a field day with that situation. Anyway, somehow, I was determined to pose a question that I believed would require a very simple answer. The question stemmed from a place of good intention – trying to understand why Christians refer to people on earth as sinners, and of having sinned (a completely outlandish concept to me.) I asked – "why do religious folks say we are sinners because we are here," and my mother replied "so that they have a job." Right, ok. I remained puzzled, ruminating why I bothered to ask such a loaded question, however I pressed on. "But what if it takes someone hundreds of lifetimes to not sin – people can’t just wake up, live a few years, and then die 100% completely sin free." Her answer: "well Jesus figured it out." *Sigh*

To understand the concept of making spatial accommodation for people on a micro scale – the size of a dinner plate to be specific, I experienced a feast of failure recently. I had arranged a hot breakfast on the weekend, and as I began to feast, every mouthful must have slipped off the fork at least once, splattering all over the placemat and onto the floor. In the end, I changed my spatial strategy by using my fingers, fork and a spoon interchangeably. This was a good example of making a spatial accommodation for my clumsy eating habits. If I had exclusively utilised the tools in front of me, I would have eaten a cold breakfast (or more likely none at all.) Instead, by accommodating my special needs on this particularly frosty morning with extremely cold hands, I ensured I was able to adapt my spatial awareness of the environment with ease.

In another peculiar example, my boss procrastinated starting a new project on a Friday afternoon, deciding the time would be better spent analysing my astrology. Who was I to argue with the boss? The time of my birth was debated (a 5-minute uncertainty apparently) and a few points of degrees shifted personality traits. Revisiting the reading during the following work week, the planetary alignments fell into place of my true nature, ensuring I wasn’t incorrectly labelled by my ascendant Aquarius rising first moon in the house of something-something. In this instance, spatial accommodation was understood by the need to clarify the full effect of planetary influences in my star sign to ensure an accurate personality portrait was immortalised in a reading.

In the world of the living, such a term that may represent this sensation is tolerance, however during spatial connections and the process of forming relationships between two points, this word does not suit the meaning. Spatial accommodation recognises the need for available, constructive space, requiring creativity and unlimited flexibility. Similar to performative space whereby one generates space through movements of the body, for example, it is the lift of the arm within a narrowed area of experimentation. A sharp shift to the right would interrupt the lengthening of the opposite, elongated leg, while a twist of the shoulder would disconnect the shape afforded in the upright torso area. The area of the spatial accommodation acts as a scope of available resources, ready to be utilised to the enhancement of meaning in that moment. In the detailed movement example above, this could recognise the nearby hand of a dance partner, able to link with the lifted arm, pulling the whole body in an entirely different direction. Similar to an opportunity, spatial accommodation recognises the imperfection built into vast choices, reminding active participants that limitations are generally confined to the mind’s narrowed thoughts.

As I consider the week ahead, I realise I must make my own spatial accommodations to remove a mountain of pressure from myself. My eyes can only stay open for a few hours in the evening, I am only able to walk the dog within a limited time frame or risk being late to work, and the petals of the fresh flowers in my room will fall all over the floor, no matter how I attempt to control the direction they will drop. Perhaps this topic is best visited when I fully comprehend the true meaning behind enduring equal success and failure simultaneously. Sometimes, wearing a pair of mix-matched socks is far better than forgetting to change out of your UGG boots and into your hiking shoes. Until then, I’m still figuring it out.