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Solving the maze

Patterns. They are all around us. They are a big part of our everyday   lives. We use them as as organizing principles, to provide structure.  Patterns help us know where we are in our journey and show us where we  fit in. Patterns place us in  the now of the framework of our lives and the lives of those around us.

But this is a paradox, because when we are inside the pattern, we cannot really see where we are. Then patterns become  puzzles we have to figure out, which is why walking through a maze for  the first time can be so destabilizing and disorienting. Little wonder,  then, that books and movies use mazes to  symbolize terrifying journeys  into the unknown! I think "maze" and see  Jack Nicholson in The Shining chasing   Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd. Or I anticipate the  tragedy awaiting  Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter inside the Triwizard  Tournament Maze in  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Every time we get up to speak, we find ourselves in that very  place--experiencing  the journey, telling our story, choosing where to  turn so we can follow the  path to its logical conclusion. BUT we also  need to be standing on the bridge above the  maze, seeing the pattern,  so we won't get lost by taking a wrong turn, going down a rhetorical  dead  end, or ending up somewhere other than where we planned to be. <Br>
Of  course when we practice  before we speak, we become familiar with the  best way to navigate the  maze, to solve that puzzle. And we become  comfortable ignoring those little nagging voices  that urge us to "step  off the trail, go this way, it will be a shortcut,  what can it hurt?"

But  even before the  practice session begins, we need to be mindful of the  pattern we are creating. We need to  use its structure when developing  our thesis and main  supporting points. We may be tempted to go into  great detail to  tease out an intriguing but non-essential sub point. Or  tell an  entertaining but digressive story. But that sort of detour  from the speech's  overall plan does nothing to further our argument,  and can be quite  confusing to our audience. So we need to stay on the  path in order to  reach our goal

Patterns are comforting. And mazes can be  mastered--with practice and a clear head!

photo credit: odolphie via photopin cc