That Larger World Above the Horizon

For about six years, I lived in the Gyeongridan area of Yongsan-gu in Seoul. When it was time to move out of my particular apartment, that meant moving to nearby Haebangchon, which I did. 

By m-louis (a flickr user) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/m-louis/336988096/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1666698

I found myself noticing the tops of buildings in Haebangchon, particularly a middle school and high school complex, which had a brightly lit sign on the top of the building. 

Then I noticed I was noticing them, which helped me to notice the tops of buildings in my old neighborhood, which I didn't notice so much when I was living there.

Recently I went walking and noticed this time the top of the community center on the five-way intersection at the top of the hill. Again, I walked past that again and again, and never really noticed it.

I think there is a connection to noticing the tops of buildings and the mental demeanor one is in. You're less likely to look up in an aspirational way if you are feeling beaten down. My theory of my own case is that much of the time I lived in Gyeongridan I felt emotionally depressed. Imagine my head looking downward as I walked from place to place.

It's led me to theorize that depressed people might not know which buildings in their neighborhood have distinctive roofs. Their eyes are cast downward so often that it becomes a habit for them not to see the coolest roofs of tops of buildings that less depressed people are likely to notice.

This might sound like putting the cart before the horse, but what if we trained depressed people to look at the tops of buildings, to notice roofs, to look up as a more frequent habit? Would at least outwardly they own the behavior of happier people? Would this make them more hopeful and less receded into themselves?

On the other hand, we could be weakening roof awareness as a depression test when we train people to get around the test, so to speak, and to artificially stare upward.

I don't know the answer to these questions, but it may be worth me experimenting more. In the meantime, if there is a party or a small garden or something on a nearby roof, look around and notice it more often. It may be part of that larger world above the horizon that you are not noticing, and maybe should.