Where is ‘place’ within the spaces we live and see? Walls, streets, buildings give us place. Sky, fields, and open water offer vastness of space. Are ‘space’ and ‘place’ the same? I think not. Space is vague, inclusive, and universal. Place is named, determined, recognized. Space holds dreams. Place holds memories.
Space allows breath and breathing. It awakens the imagination and creativity. It invites the deepest part of us to trust and explore. It begs for nothing. It is the absence of ‘what might be’ that gives it freedom. It has no demands. Space is uncommitted, unnamed, without story and specific memory.
Place is very different. Place offers suggestions by its very nature. Place defines as it becomes a sounding board for the many memories it may invoke. Places hold and invite stories. While a place may be silent, the story that is recalled will be full of sound and movement, color and dynamic. Places remember a relationship, moods and feelings.
Not too long ago I invited my Facebook friends to share familiar phrases with the word ‘place’. Listen for the clarity in direction and purpose. Hear the stories they hold. What memories come to mind?
Your place or mine?
A place for everything and everything in its place
Are you in the right place?
Between a rock and a hard place
What’s taking place?
A place at the table
Peyton Place
Place your bets
Placeholder
Place of worship
It's not your place.
No-place; Some-place
There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us. - West Side Story
Right-place; Wrong-place
We’ve got to get out of this place!
Put the placemats on the table near the fireplace.
I can't quite place the face.
Place your hands on your head and step away from the car.
What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
Ah, but that was in another place and time."
Placesetting of silverware
She put me in my place!
A place in the sun
A place of my own
Place-based training
They'll never place me at the scene of the crime!
I landed in 1st place.
No place like home
I'll go in your place
I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. - Abraham Lincoln
And now . . . what PLACE phrase comes to your mind? This is the PLACE to post it!
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