There are different ideas about these spaces in the literature, some are mentioned in the article “Living Space”. Suggestions are presented here that do not purport to reflect current viewpoints.
In a person’s personal space, it is advisable to distinguish the material and spiritual parts. Personal spiritual space can be defined as all a person’s knowledge, his ideas about the world, about God, his attitude towards other people. The spiritual space is largely inaccessible from society; from the outside it can be judged mainly by indirect signs. A person is capable of hiding his true knowledge, moods, and inclinations. Therefore, the inner world of one individual is objectively and at his request significantly separated from the world of another person.
At the same time, concealment, or even complete absence of knowledge and a rich inner world, does not contribute to mutual understanding in society and a person’s influence on this society. On the contrary, you can share your experience not only without harming yourself, but with benefit for everyone.
Despite the undoubted individuality of the spiritual space, it is largely shaped by upbringing and environment. A citizen often considers convictions and beliefs to be his family, but in essence they were imposed from the outside, and insufficient education and an uncritical attitude did not allow one to weed out everything random and extraneous.
Personal material space can include things and various resources (financial, housing, land, food), which are, to one degree or another, assigned to each citizen by legal or moral norms. Unlike spiritual resources, material resources are limited. If they went to one, they did not go to the other. Whatever suits one person's needs will usually work for another. Any material property is potentially the property of any person, and therefore it has to be protected.
In material space, boundaries are determined not by the properties of things, but by social norms that can change, be violated, and be trampled upon. These norms are conditional. You can have a personal desk at your workplace, a personal bank account, a garden plot, your own room in a family apartment, but all this is at the same time the property of more general structures that can change the rules at any time.
Thus, there are objective boundaries of personal space, but they are rather conditional, relative, and transitory. But, probably, this is how it should be philosophically for any phenomenon.
The living space of a person, family, organization, state, entire society is what is covered by their activities and, to one degree or another, is necessary for this activity. In particular, it covers a person’s personal space.
In living space, one can also distinguish spiritual and material parts. But here, first of all, we need to pay attention to the second, since all spirituality is concentrated mainly in the heads of living citizens, in their personal spaces. And without people, books and works of art are nothing more than a boring chronology of Egyptian dynasties.
In the broadest sense, the material living space of each person coincides with the living space of humanity - with planet Earth. Perhaps in the future it will expand to the scale of the Solar System and Galaxy, but so far the conditions there are clearly not favorable for expansion. Today it is not difficult to visit almost any country. But even if a citizen is a notorious homebody, he is still aware of world events, which certainly affect the life of even the most remote corners. Therefore, if we highlight the living spaces of each citizen, they are highly intertwined and interdependent.
The living space of one person can be divided into different levels, respectively associated with his country, city, enterprise, family, and various public organizations. Each level has its own items, resources, symbols, and rules of behavior.
Although this can be disputed, with some reservations I would include many other people in a person’s living space, and above all, his immediate environment. No matter how independent this environment may be, it is it that recognizes the rights of the individual, reflects his ideas and protects his interests. In essence, a person lives as much as he lives in other people. If he has been forgotten and no one needs him, then he is no longer a person as a member of society.
Therefore, along with the development of actual spaces in meters and resources in kilograms, it is of paramount importance to study the ideas of other people, as well as promote one’s ideas if the individual considers them useful for himself and for society. When mutual understanding is established between people, then meters and kilograms will move briskly. But you won’t achieve anything alone, and even if you cut off a piece of resources for yourself by force, you won’t be able to squeeze much out of it without outside help.
Thus, the living space of other people is actually an extension of the space of one person. By influencing your neighbors, you can partially manage their economy and gain additional opportunities and gains from this. Often this mechanism is used for selfish purposes, and it is not so easy to break it. Against this background, social conflicts unfold, sometimes with implicit, and sometimes with explicit claims to dominance and expansion of living space, not only physical and material, but also in the minds of citizens.
In the modern world, the struggle for minds takes on special significance. Information is omnipresent and in itself relatively cheap; it quietly reaches the very depths of a person’s spiritual space and thus turns out to be a powerful tool for manipulating people and redistributing social wealth. Today, before sophisticated means of influence, human spirituality is more unprotected than ever. Therefore, when opening your soul to people, it is useful to take care of your spiritual space and monitor whether dangerous weeds of imposed ideas have settled in it, which at first glance are attractive, but lead to the disunity of people and are therefore destructive for themselves and for society.
So, the concepts of personal and living space, of course, do not occupy a central place in psychology and sociology, but if desired, they can reflect important aspects of personality and social development. N.V.Nevesenko
The narrowing of the physical living space for a person after the age of 60 increasingly resembles a process opposite to that observed in childhood: the space of the world, which is in principle unlimited for access, at a younger age is increasingly narrowed, first to the limits of the district, then to the street, then to the yard , home and finally bed.
The most frequently visited places in their living space are not theaters (85% of pensioners do not visit them at all), not
CHAPTER 5. BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS ■ 603
In old age there is a significant
narrowing of living space and reduction
psychophysical capabilities.
zei (does not visit 82%), not exhibitions (does not visit 78%) and not libraries (does not visit 78%) (Patrushev V.D., 1998). Their the place is now occupied by shops, pharmacies, clinics, and nearby “eateries” (23% of men aged about 70 years old)(Potanin Yu. A., 1999) and benches, gazebos in front of the house.
INTERACTION WITH OBJECTS
The very interaction of an elderly person with surrounding objects gradually changes qualitatively. A decrease in his psychophysical capabilities inevitably leads to the appearance of the necessary aids: glasses, dentures, a hand cart for moving heavy objects, a cane and some others. The presence of these items, on the one hand, helps an elderly person to act more or less effectively, and on the other hand, creates additional inconvenience and worries for him.
For example, when reading, every time you have to take out your glasses and wipe their glasses; while eating, dentures can cause a feeling of discomfort - 34% of men and 48% of women complain about the unsatisfactory quality of dentures (Yu. A. Potanina, 1999); a cane, which helps maintain balance and alleviate pain while walking, gives rise to fears of forgetting it somewhere (according to the same author, about 12% of septuagenarians use a cane).
Due to a decrease in mobility and speed of movement, an elderly person has to re-calculate the time for performing various actions, procedures and transitions, for example, the time to arrive at the appointed place at the appointed time.
For many older people, physical activities cause pain in the joints, muscles, and lower back, which significantly limits their ability, for example, to keep their home, clothes, and shoes in order. 71.1% of older people need food delivery, 77% need to wash clothes, 72% need to clean their home, 23.6% need to cook food (Karpenko-vaT.V., 1998).
The surrounding physical world increasingly forces the elderly person to be vigilant and causes a feeling of tension due to the possible occurrence of various dangers. It is becoming more and more dangerous everywhere: at home, on the stairs, on the street, on public transport, indoors and in the park - on a lonely bench, in a crowd and alone. 22% of men and 39% of women aged about 70 do not feel comfortable
604 * Part VIII. Late adulthood and old age (60... 75...)
security nowhere (Potanina Yu. A., 1999). Thus, the physical world becomes less and less malleable, reliable, controllable, predictable and more and more dangerous.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
From the above, it becomes clear that the social world for a person at this age gradually comes into conflict with accumulated experience, knowledge and skills. It seems that young people only pretend to listen to the opinions of old people. Conflicts with the younger generation are a common phenomenon (Panina N.V., Sachuk N.N., 1985).
In modern society, “experience is no longer equivalent to knowledge, and older people fail to join social evolution. Therefore, they are not respected by young people as “strategic teachers”” (Krasnova O.V., 1997, p. 5).
Meanwhile, it is at this age that many people first develop the desire to be useful and necessary to people (Shakhmatov N.F., 1996). However, young people see in this desire importunity, senile grumbling and do not take it seriously.
Elderly people who have retained common sense and reason can only wisely come to terms with their position as “lagging behind life” and patiently, to the best of their strength and ability, help loved ones - children, relatives, each other - If strength allows, work and thus communicate with people , otherwise unbearable loneliness will fall.
In Russian conditions, in addition, work is a means of survival for the elderly. In the new economic conditions, the isolation of older people has increased: 63% of pensioners noted that compared to 1991, the circle and intensity of their communication has decreased (Patrushev V.D., 1998).
BEHAVIOR IN THE FAMILY
The most optimal type of family at this age is a married couple. At the same time, an important condition for maintaining a favorable emotional atmosphere in the family is the traditional distribution of household responsibilities (Panina N.V., Sachuk N.N., 1985).
It should be noted once again that in this regard men are more “lucky”, since among them are older about 70 years old 75% are married, while only 35% are women.
Development factors
Due to the emergence of a large amount of free time among older people, the question arises about its rational use. It turned out that the attitude towards the use of free time is not only a matter of common sense and benefit for others, but also
CHAPTER 5. BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS ■ 605
grew up related to personal health: among pensioners who rationally use their free time, only 7-26% are chronically ill, while among those leading an unhealthy lifestyle (passivity, bad habits, etc.) 97% are seriously ill (Panina N.V. , Sachuk N.N., 1985). 7.7% of working and 4.1% of non-working pensioners continue to study and improve their skills. Activities of the rest in their free time are watching television programs (84.6%), interest in radio compositions (80%), reading literature (72%) and communication (69%).
RELIGIOSITY
The approaching end of life inevitably raises “eternal questions” for an elderly person. It is possible that religiosity, which increases in old age, is a reaction to the increased relevance of these issues. Faith in God gives hope that with the end of physical existence, the existence of the soul will not cease, but will acquire some new form.
Be that as it may, but among believers, according to various sources, people over 60 years old from 53% to 65.8% (Kaariainen K., Furman D. E., 1997; Novikova L. G., 1998).
The assumption that the elderly hope for salvation after death is apparently true because among believers of all ages, 45% believe in the afterlife of the soul (it is possible that most of them are elderly), 52% believe in heaven , 46% - to hell, 49% believe that “life has meaning because there is God” (Kaariainen K., Furman D. E.). The total number of believers among people over 18 years of age in our country is currently 47%.
HAPPY AGE
 |
Not all older people experience old age hard and unhappily. By the end of their lives, many of them develop a calm and tolerant attitude towards life and what is happening around them. If this happens, then the life of an elderly person is filled with an even, calm and peaceful light emanating from the very fact of life.
The so-called “happy old age” accompanies those who, in relation to life, take a position similar to the position of Ecclesiastes: everything in life - knowledge, titles, honorary positions, interpersonal relationships, money - all this is “vanity of vanities”.
People with this position tend to have a calm, contemplative view of today's life and current events. Essentially, this is not a passive, but an active position, since it determines the nature and form of behavior.
"Happy old age."
606 ■ Part VIII. Late adulthood and old age (60... 75...)
knowledge, activity and human communication. Older people with this position argue less, dramatize events less, and say “yes” more often, although at the same time they remain unconvinced and pursue their own line of behavior. They do not sit still, but slowly act in accordance with their deep-rooted interests, affections and personal aspirations. They do not make decisive bets on the future, but rather enjoy the present.
The important thing is that such a happy old age is possible even under unfavorable conditions - not very good health and material disadvantage (Shakhmatov N.F., 1996, p. 65).
SUMMARY
The most important factors determining a person’s behavior at this stage of life are: a decrease in psychophysical capabilities, gender, personality type, gradual withdrawal from active social life (the so-called “desocialization”), material well-being, loss of loved ones and loneliness, as well as the consciousness of an approaching end of life.
The physical world with which older people interact directly is becoming increasingly smaller. Subjectively, things that play an auxiliary role are playing an increasingly important role: glasses, a cane, dentures, a hand cart for moving heavy objects.
Many older people have an increasing sense of danger that awaits them everywhere: on the street, in the yard, in an empty park, and even in their own apartment.
The degree of social activity of older people is increasingly decreasing and for many it is limited to family communication and communication with their immediate environment. A significant portion of pensioners find themselves alone. Continuing professional activities or other work contributes to overcoming loneliness and increasing material wealth.
In old age, interest in religion increases sharply.
Not all older people experience old age hard and unhappily; some of them live a “happy old age.” By the end of their lives, many people develop a calm and tolerant attitude towards life and what is happening around them. If this happens, then the life of an elderly person is filled with an even, calm and peaceful light emanating from the very fact of life. The ability to have such a view at a given period of one’s life depends primarily on a person’s personal attitudes.
CHAPTER 6
DEATH AND DYING
Man differs from all other living beings in that he knows about the inevitability of his death. In early childhood, however, awareness of the finitude of one’s physical existence is still absent. However, soon a very clear idea of the inevitable ending of life is formed.
This circumstance, associated with the knowledge of the finitude of one’s own life and the inevitability of death, throughout human history has been the basis for the creation of various concepts of the meaning of life, theories of the other world and life after death.
The theme of death is the most important in all religions of the world. Some believe in the frailty and temporary nature of earthly existence and in the eternal life of the soul after physical death, after liberation from a sinful body. Others accept the theory of reincarnation, which allows for the possibility of repeated physical rebirth and return to the earthly world in various living forms: in another person, in an animal, in a tree, etc. Note, by the way, that the concept of reincarnation existed in Christianity until 553, until she was condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople. Some people don’t believe in any form of life after death at all. However, for everyone, knowledge of the inevitability of death is the most important circumstance that directly affects a person’s life. To a certain extent, it can be argued that it is the knowledge of the inevitability of death that gives meaning to life.
Describe from a psychological point of view the final period of a person’s life
trapping is quite difficult. And the point here is not only that
this topic is to a certain extent taboo, and therefore little
followed. In addition, the attitude towards death is extremely personal.
subjective, individualized, dependent on a variety of subjective
objective factors. Obviously, people of different ages have different
perceive death and relate to it differently. However, along with age
personal parameter on the attitude towards ______________________________
death is influenced by the existential system of the individual, the degree of religiosity, subjective life experience, and finally, the state of health. Despite this, we still
608 ■ Part VIII. Late adulthood and old age (60... 75...) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
We try to consider some general trends associated with the process of dying and death.
FEAR OF DEATH
Some studies have shown that older people experience less anxiety when thinking about death than relatively younger people (Kastenbaum, 1986). One study of a large group of older adults found that when asked, “Are you afraid of dying?” only 10% answered “yes” (Jeffers & Verwoerdt, 1977). It is noted that older people think about death often, but with amazing calm (Craig, 2000). It is clear that these statements reflect a general trend to which there may not only be, but certainly are, significant exceptions due to individual differences. Thus, on the one hand, it has been found that people who have a clear purpose in life are less afraid of dying (Durlak, 1979), and other studies indicate that older people who are physically and mentally healthy, have plans for the future and feel adapted in life, death is what worries us most (Craig, 2000). Truly, as A. Schopenhauer accurately noted, the fear of death is nothing more than the flip side of the will to live.
Most often, the concept of “living space” is used with the word “organization,” meaning putting one’s workplace in order, distributing working time and other activities related to self-organization. No one will argue that this kind of organization and optimization of living space is very important, since without this it is impossible to achieve success in any area of life. But there is a more interesting definition of living space, which psychology gives it, and from this point of view we will consider it.
Psychology of living space
This concept was introduced by psychologist Kurt Lewin, who believed that human life takes place not so much in the real world, but in a world formed by his consciousness based on accumulated knowledge and experience. At the same time, the psychologist proposed to consider the personality and his ideas about the world as a single whole, and he called all the factors influencing his consciousness living space. It should be noted that this space does not obey physical laws at all; a person can sit in solitary confinement, but at the same time his living space will cover kilometers. Its size is influenced by a person’s worldview, and the wider it is, the more living space a person can have.
The dimensions of this space are not constant, increasing as they grow older. Most often, it reaches its maximum in the middle of life, gradually decreasing in old age. The living space may decrease in a seriously ill or depressed person; he is not interested in anything, there is no craving for new knowledge and acquaintances. Sometimes this process can be reversible.
If there are no serious illnesses and old age is still far away, you can easily expand your living space. You just need to stop being indifferent, there are so many interesting things happening in the world - scientists are making discoveries, new music, films and books are appearing, archaeologists are excavating ancient cities, this list can be continued endlessly. Our life is a book, and it depends only on us whether it will be filled with amazing stories or whether only dullness and dirt will remain on its broken, faded pages.
Although we started with a person and subsequently surrounded him with a psychological environment, it would be closer to Lewin’s idea (to go from the general to the particular) to start with the living space and differentiate in it the person and the environment. For living space is the psychologist’s universe; this is all psychological reality. It contains the totality of possible events that can influence the behavior of an individual. It includes everything that needs to be known to understand the specific behavior of a human individual in a given psychological environment and at a given time. Behavior (B, behavior) is a function (f, function) of living space: B = f(L).
“The task of dynamic psychology is to unambiguously derive the behavior of a given individual from the totality of psychological events existing in life space at a given moment” (Lewin, 1936a).
The fact that the living space is surrounded by the physical world does not mean that the living space is part of the physical world. (Figure 9-3.) Rather, living space and space beyond are differentiated and separate regions of a greater totality. What kind of totality this is - what this big universe is - finite or infinite, whether it manifests chaos or space - has nothing to do with psychology, except for one important point. Events that exist in the external region and adjacent to the boundary of living space—Lewin called this region the “outer shell of living space”—can have a material impact on the psychological environment. That is, non-psychological events can change psychological ones. Lewin believed that the study of events occurring in the outer shell can be called “psychological ecology.” (1951, ch. VIII). The first step of psychological research is to establish the nature of the events that exist at the boundary of life space, since these facts will help determine what is possible and what is not, what can happen in life space and what cannot. Levine did this work before undertaking research into people's eating habits and how they could be changed. (1943, 1951, ch. VIII).
Events in the psychological environment can also cause changes in the physical world. Between these two worlds there is a two-way communication. Accordingly, they say that the boundary between living space and the outside world has the property of permeability. A boundary resembles a permeable membrane or network—rather than a wall or rigid barrier. Let us note in passing that the physical world cannot directly communicate with a person, just as a person cannot directly communicate with the outside world. An event, before it can influence or be influenced by a person, must become a fact of the psychological environment. This is clear when looking at the drawing depicting a person completely surrounded by the space of the psychological environment.
Pointing out the permeable boundary between life space and the physical world is extremely important. Since events in the non-psychological world can radically change the entire course of events in life space, predictions based only on knowledge of psychological laws are not serious. You can never be sure in advance that some event from the outer shell will not violate the boundary of living space and will not turn the psychological environment upside down. A chance meeting, an unexpected phone call, an accident, as you know, can change the course of life. Therefore, Levin emphasizes, it is more realistic for a psychologist to understand a specific, currently existing psychological situation through description and explanation in terms of field theory, rather than trying to predict how a person is going to behave in some future.
Another property of living space should be noted. Although a person is surrounded by a psychological environment, he is not part of the environment and is not included in it. The psychological environment ends at the perimeter of the circle, just as the non-psychological world ends at the perimeter of the ellipse. However, the boundary between man and environment is also permeable. This means that environmental events can influence a person, P=f(E), and vice versa, E=f(P). Before we proceed to discuss the nature of these phenomena, another differentiation must be introduced in relation to the structure of man and the environment.
Living space
Professor Preobrazhensky from M. Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog,” as you know, lived on Prechistenka in an apartment of seven rooms and really wanted to have an eighth, as he felt inconvenienced by combining an office and a library. Until recently, the description of this apartment for any reader sounded no less fantastic than the story of the humanization of the dog Sharik. After all, in the words of another Bulgakov character, the housing issue has completely ruined us. But today a five-, six- and even seven-room apartment has become, if not an ordinary phenomenon, then quite real. For example, in Moscow, a new house was built on Michurinsky Prospekt, in which anyone can purchase a two-story, seven-room apartment. True, the assigned price sharply reduces the circle of potential buyers. The rest look at the new building with poorly concealed envy. After all, for most Muscovites, a three-room apartment is the limit of what is achievable. And a large family feels constrained even in three rooms. Some, however, looking at a luxurious new home, resort to an old trick that psychologists call the green grape principle: “Why do I need such a mansion? Households there will have to shout around, like in the forest. And how much effort will it take to clean up…” Although, in all honesty, few would refuse such housing if they could afford it. Almost every city dweller dreams of expanding their living space and increasing the comfort of their housing. True, according to psychologists, this is not the same thing. A living space does not have to be vast to be comfortable. And feelings of discomfort and embarrassment sometimes arise because the space is irrationally organized.
The problem of human living space has long eluded the attention of scientists. Only relatively recently, many of the negative phenomena associated with the growth of large cities began to be explained, among other things, by excessive population density. It turned out that residents of megacities are overly irritable, aggressive, suffer greatly from stress and depression, from all kinds of physical and mental ailments. A modern city dweller sometimes resembles a bird, sadly ruffled in a cramped cage, and sometimes he resembles a tiger, which restlessly rushes about behind iron bars and growls angrily at those around him. Of course, any comparison of a person with an animal is very conditional. However, some analogies are simply striking.
It turns out that a number of patterns identified by ethologists - specialists in the field of animal behavior - can shed light on the nature of many human problems.
You've probably had to wait in front of a phone booth when the phone is finally free. The minutes pass unbearably slowly, and it seems that the chatterbox who occupied the telephone booth is deliberately stalling for time, seeing that you are in a hurry.
According to American psychologist Barry Rubeck, it doesn't seem like it, it really is. He measured the call duration of more than two hundred people at telephone booths and found that when there was no queue, the conversation lasted an average of one and a half minutes, and if someone was waiting at the booth to talk, the average conversation duration was as much as four minutes.
According to Rubek, this is reflected on a subconscious level by the territorial instinct characteristic of many monkeys and other human ancestors. Without realizing it, the speaker views the booth as his territory and seeks to protect it from those who want to invade.
It is also known that most wild animals have a specific “escape distance”, the violation of which causes the animal to run away. The lizard runs away if you approach it within a few meters; for a crocodile this distance is approximately 40 meters. A sparrow and a crow have a very short flight distance, a deer and an eagle have a very large one.
It is clear that in the animal world this mechanism performs a protective function. If another animal dares to invade the living space of an animal, then the latter, in all likelihood, poses a threat. Man has retained this ancient mechanism in his behavior, unconsciously feeling that physical contact is fraught with trouble.
Let's observe how public transport passengers behave at the first stop of the route. Several people enter an empty trolleybus or metro car, each of them can sit in any seat. If there are at least half as many passengers as there are seats in the cabin, they will most likely be seated in such a way as to avoid direct contact with another passenger. Everyone will try to sit down so that the next seat remains free.
Let's continue monitoring at the next stop. Several more passengers enter the cabin. There are plenty of seats in front of them to sit on. However, those places that allow you to avoid proximity will be occupied first. And this will continue until there are no such places left. They will begin to sit next to another person only when the cabin is more than half full.
From this simple observation the obvious conclusion follows. There is a certain space around each of us that we strive to keep intact. Only the situation of a crowd of people forces us to come to terms with the violation of its boundaries. Or we ourselves, having become close to a person in the psychological sense of the word, strive for spatial intimacy - right up to a friendly or loving embrace, which, however, also cannot last forever.
Of course, for close relatives living together, this pattern is not so pronounced. Spatial proximity with parents, spouse or child is not only acceptable for most people, but also highly desirable. But human nature is such that, along with the need for close communication, each of us also experiences a certain need for autonomy, independent and inviolable existence. If a person is deprived of the opportunity to sometimes retire, to be alone with himself, this negatively affects his mental well-being, although he himself is not aware of this. Relatives begin to irritate, discontent accumulates, and quarrels break out. It is easy to find an explainable reason for all this. But the real reason lies in a person’s loss of personal space, which leads to increased tension.
We unwittingly provoke such a situation ourselves by organizing the space of our home in such a way that it all belongs to everyone and no one. In such a house, each family member can appear in any place at any time for some reason. Personal spaces constantly intersect: when starting an activity, no one can be sure that they will not be interrupted or distracted. The tension that arises in this situation can be explained simply: spatial needs are unpredictable, their intensity is too high. A person always has to be ready in order to step aside in time, answer a question, fulfill a request or coordinate intentions.
To prevent this from happening, it is enough to follow a simple strategy. All family members must enter into an unspoken agreement, according to which each is assigned a certain personal territory. It is not always possible for this to be a separate room. Then let it be at least a corner where someone from. family members acquire priority rights. Intuitively, we try to adhere to this rule: in almost every house there is, if not a children’s room, then a corner with toys, “daddy’s desk,” “mom’s chair,” etc. The establishment of such territories does not require the signing of agreements and the construction of impregnable boundaries. It’s enough to just make a rule: if a person is on “his” territory, you shouldn’t disturb him unnecessarily.
An important factor influencing mood and well-being is the arrangement of furniture, which determines what position family members will occupy within the house and relative to each other. It has been established that if the leitmotif of communication is rivalry, then people sit opposite each other, if cooperation, then they stand or sit next to each other, half-turning. Moreover, if the arrangement of furniture forces one to take one position or another, then the mutual contacts of people take on a corresponding coloring. That is, by placing a sofa along one wall and armchairs directly opposite, we are literally provoking confrontation.
Another interesting observation was made by the English psychologist L. Sommer. He began rearranging the chairs in the living room of a nursing home. Whenever a chair was moved away from the wall, the guests immediately returned it to its place.
Apparently, people don't like having uncontrolled space behind them. In ancient times, this was associated with a completely natural fear of being unexpectedly attacked from behind. Since then, this reflex has not faded away. In addition, it becomes even more aggravated in certain living conditions. Thus, one of the heroes of the film “Belorussky Station” - a war veteran, a former paratrooper - refuses to sit with his back to the door, because throughout his life he has retained an unconscious expectation of a threat from an uncontrolled space. This leads to a simple recommendation: in order to feel psychologically comfortable in any environment, try to take a position so as not to feel the emptiness with your back. It is clear that this applies to any of us. And you can save a person from some unconscious discomfort if you allow him to take a “safe” position with a “safety net” behind his back.
But over-insurance can also hurt. So, when sitting in any position, it is advisable not to rest your back against the wall, otherwise even in a fairly spacious room you will feel cramped.
Of the time that we are at home, a considerable part is spent in bed. And the location of the bed can implicitly stimulate positive or negative feelings, which are mostly unconscious, but affect well-being. And intangible “geopathogenic zones”, as a rule, have nothing to do with it. A position in which the bed is opposite the doorway can be considered extremely unfortunate. The door itself symbolizes the possibility of invasion, even if, except for those lying in bed, no one lives in the apartment. And this, in particular, can give rise to vague sensations that prevent normal falling asleep or intimate intimacy between spouses. So, to raise your vitality, sometimes it’s enough just to rearrange the bed.
The already mentioned L. Sommer experimented with the arrangement of beds. He invited new students to take a place in the dormitory, where there were 8 beds in the room - 4 along each wall. It turned out that given the opportunity to choose, preference is always given to corner beds. That is, a person prefers to sleep with his head oriented towards the angle formed by two walls. This is probably the optimal sleeping position.
In general, furniture placed along the walls creates the impression of more space. Traditionally, we place a table in the middle of the largest room, but this conceals the space and makes even a large area feel cramped.
There are many more design tricks that allow you to “expand” the room. Of course, when several people are forced to cram into a small room, no tricks will help - it is necessary to expand the living space. But in less critical cases, simple “cosmetic” measures sometimes allow you to breathe more freely.
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From the book Do Less, Achieve More. Secrets of the Rain Mage by Chu Ching-NingRestore your life balance In our opinion, the most striking example of a person who worked hard and made every effort to achieve harmony is the world-famous actor Sylvester Stallone, beloved by millions of fans. This
From the book Naughty Child of the Biosphere [Conversations about human behavior in the company of birds, animals and children] author Dolnik Viktor RafaelevichTHE LIFE JOURNEY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON George Washington's life can be clearly divided into the three stages described above. Most people's lives are difficult to break down into three distinct phases; they usually overlap. In the life of George Washington there are clearly three
From the book The Power of Spiritual Intelligence by Buzan Tony From the book Stratagems. About the Chinese art of living and surviving. TT. 12 author von Senger HarroChapter 3 Life revelation and life purpose Without revelation from above, the people are unbridled. Book of Proverbs of Solomon, 29:18 Life revelation, or, in other words, life dream, understood as “the highest destiny is defined in dictionaries and encyclopedias as
From the book Romantic Essays author Luria Alexander Romanovich From the book Why I Feel What You Feel. Intuitive Communication and the Secret of Mirror Neurons by Bauer JoachimSpace He soon got used to the “oddities of the body”, and they began to bother him only occasionally, when later seizures began to appear. But other oddities appeared, he called them “oddities of space,” and he could never get rid of them. He comes up to him doctor
From the book Game and Reality author Winnicott Donald Woods8. Living space for young people and school chances
From the book The Lost and Returned World author Luria Alexander Romanovich8. Our living space I want to study the place (in the most abstract sense of the word) in which we find ourselves most of the time, living our lives. The very language we use naturally pushes us to become interested
From the book Intelligence: instructions for use author Sheremetyev Konstantin From the book The Advantages of Introverts by Laney MartyLife credo And if this principle is as hard as a diamond, then a person becomes hard as a diamond. Goltis obviously has this principle. And it is he who interests me. How Goltis thinks at the moment of the most serious test. Finally, my turn came, I asked Goltis: “Goltis, I
From the book Myths about a woman's age by Blair Pamela D.Serenity Space Your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again. Joseph Campbell I have often heard others say that introverts are not aware of their surroundings. I think it's just the opposite. Most of them are sharp
From the book The Female Mind in the Project of Life author Meneghetti AntonioPart III Your living space
From the author's bookSpiritual Living Space “...whenever we feel depressed or afraid of aging, it means that we have neglected the spiritual dimension of life.” * * *What feeling do you want to experience in your home or apartment? Architects and builders can
From the author's bookLiving Space After Retirement “We cannot rely on others when planning our retirement because each of us has our own idea of where we want to be.” * * *We all seek a certain comfort in our lives. We want
From the author's book5.1. Living space In this chapter I will try to give the key to female success, to show the road leading to victory. Having examined all the psychological characteristics of a woman, let us now turn to the details: perfume, clothing, manner of speaking, leading a meeting - to everything that can be
