How Big is Your Bubble?

“I did then what I knew how to do.  Now that I know better, I do better.”
Maya Angelou

I’m ending the year with a Fearless blog post.  My goal was fifty posts for 2016…this is number forty-nine.  Thanks to my faithful readers for following along on my travels.

Let me know what you would like to read in 2017 by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

1. General flash-fiction stories
2. Continuation of the Table for Two series
3. Posts on Joy – my word for 2017

What Is a Bubble?

For this post, our bubble is the sum of our experiences.  A bubble can be as small as the town we live in, or large enough to encompass the planet.  Bubbles can expand, exist one inside the other, adhere to other bubbles, or pop and dissolve around us.

Our bubble includes our attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.

• A collection of general attitudes creates a specific opinion about a narrow topic.
• A group of opinions shapes our values as part of a belief system.
• People frequently change attitudes and occasionally opinions, but rarely do individuals change beliefs. [i]

Our words and actions stem from our attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.  We do the best we can based on what we know at the time.  When we know better, we do better.

Forming Your Bubble

As children, our bubble is small.  It includes family, friends, neighbors, and school mates.  A more diverse world leads to more diverse attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.

As we move through life, inclusion of others normally outside our bubble, grows respect for and appreciation of differences in ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, education, and religion.

Diverse experiences grow larger bubbles.

Expanding Your Bubble

Be Fearless!  Leap outside your comfort zone, your bubble.

• Volunteer in your community. The best way to understand people outside your bubble is to get to know them and their circumstances.
• Explore a city, state our country you have never been to before.
• Join new group. (Check out Meet Up in your area: Meet Up)
• Take a class on a topic you know nothing about (If you are over 50, check out OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at a college or university near you.)
• Learn a language.
• Take a cooking class.
• Join a book club.
• Try a new sport or activity.
• Etc., etc., etc.

Trying new things allows us to expand our minds and learn—both about the new thing, and about ourselves.  As we learn more, new attitudes and opinions just may change our beliefs.

Can Bubbles Unlock the Secrets of Life?

Samsam Bubbleman thinks they can.

Samsam Bubbleman needs only two ingredients – soap and water – to make something magical. For more than a decade, Samsam has dedicated his life to creating dazzling, kaleidoscopic bubble art. He’s a professional, with multiple Guinness World Records, and a company that produces a wide range of bubble toys. But bubbles are much more than a job for Samsam: he knows his soapy, colour-drenched creations can lift spirits, unlock life’s secrets, and reverse time, turning grown-ups back into children.

Check out this video, Samsan the Bubbleman, it may expand your bubble.

When we expand our bubble to be more inclusive,
we will know better and hopefully we will do better.

[i] Steve Sisgold reporting in ”Psychology Today. http://classroom.synonym.com/things-affect-persons-beliefs-5484.html