Source: The Santa Monica Ferris Wheel: A Visual Metaphor for Both Sides of Our Minds (VIDEO), huffingtonpost.com

By Susan Kaiser Greenland

When driving around Los Angeles my attention is often drawn to something eye-catching. I love it when Disney Hall comes into view, or the Getty Center, but my favorite local sight is the nighttime image of the solar powered Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier. With its dazzling kinetic light show, powered by wind and solar energy, it is not only a beautiful visual but a fantastic metaphor for the creative and the analytical way our minds work.

The Santa Monica Ferris wheel is a technological marvel, a wonder of engineering made manifest on a large scale. And I do not use the word “wonder” lightly, because that is the sense that this use of wind and solar power calls forth in me every time I see it. It’s as if each time I gaze upon the Ferris wheel silhouetted against the dark Pacific Ocean and the night sky I am a kid again. It is such a powerful image for me that I use it to teach kids and families about mindful awareness and how mindfulness meditation helps develop both sides of our minds — the analytical and the creative.