I just discovered that my favourite shape is a Circle!!

Last week I was attending a webinar on Children’s Literature and one of the topics was on Oral Storytelling. Now, as an educator I never enjoyed doing oral storytelling as a performance and always thought about it with a bittersweet feeling. Bitter that I cannot support that form of storytelling and sweet because I know its power with children and when someone does do a performance it is an enchanting way to transfer stories. I always thought of this skill as exclusive to other skills/mediums like read-aloud, audio books, video rendition of stories and more. But then the presenter placed the oral performance as one of the points in the circle of skills/medium we can use to keep stories alive and suddenly I felt that it all makes sense. We don't leave anything behind. We are still carrying on an element of oral storytelling and when the reader listens and transfers the same to her friends and family she is keeping with the tradition of oral storytelling. So some flashes around the benefit of using circles around connecting ideas

1. Every point is as important as the other - every point is at the same distance from the center of the circle.
2. Each point is connected so there is a continuous flow of information all around.
3. There is no fixed beginning and end. We can start from anywhere and still experience the whole.
4. There are no angles separating one subsection from the other.
5. There are no sharp edges or corners to break the flow.

As I continued musing on circle I recollected some common phrases and ideas referenced in books, songs and stories

1. Circle of influence and Circle of concern - from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
2. Circle of life - song from Lion King
3. King Arthur’s Round table - from the Arthurian legend

And of course, after I wrote my thoughts on circles as my favourite shape, I asked ChatGPT to write on the same topic. Here are all the other reasons for appreciating a circle

1. Seen as a symbol of unity and infinity
2. Signifies the cycles of life, the changing seasons, and the continuous flow of time
3. Circular designs like mandalas facilitate meditation and harmony
4. Unique mathematical properties
5. Used in architecture for its stability and strength

What is your favourite shape? :)

#blogchallenge #personalmusings #circlepower