Sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas to write about, and other people can be a good source of inspiration, either by the things they do or by directly offering a topic. My daughter recently texted me a photo of a metal link fence with trees and bushes growing above and through it. “There’s a metaphor somewhere,” she wrote.

“I’ll need a little coaching with that metaphor,” I texted back.

“Something about how nature is trying to be contained by man but can’t be,” she offered.

I joked about that being too obvious, but what she saw in that photo of the overgrown fence was different than what I saw. I saw one human’s efforts to keep other humans out, and it made me reflect about the fences we construct in our lives, whether real or imagined.

I’ve participated in ice breaker games like this where everyone in a group looks at a photo and explains what it “says” to them. It’s fun, and it also reveals a lot about people when you learn how they interpret what they see. Exercises like this are a good reminder that we all have our unique perspectives on reality, influenced by our age, gender, temperament, education, family of origin, and life experiences.

Rather than expecting everyone to view reality as we do, I’m wondering if we can be open, curious even, to asking questions in a sincere, nonjudgmental way about why someone holds particular opinions or interpretations of reality. I’d like to think that I could ask such questions without feeling a need to persuade or justify my own opinions, just learning how someone sees the world differently than me and why. That’s a high bar, but one I’m working on. Maybe it’s high bar for you, too, but one worth considering.