WO2021233508A1

WO2021233508A1 - Self-knowledge building system

Info

Publication number: WO2021233508A1
Application number: PCT/DK2021/000161
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ana Laura Esther Farias ACUNA
Original assignee: Acuna Ana Laura Esther Farias
Priority date: 2020-05-22
Filing date: 2021-05-21
Publication date: 2021-11-25
Also published as: DK180744B1; DK202000611A1

Abstract

A Self-knowledge three-dimensional building system using a plurality of building elements to build a structure that represents a self-narrative in regard to a personal challenge. The set includes a plurality of three-dimensional Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) with a rectangular shape that has at its center a cut-out word. Some words represent an aspect of oneself (behaviors, emotions, values, beliefs, habits, fears, etc.), others represent how we build our view of the world (culture, environment, experiences, desires, judgements) and other words represent our sense of direction in the world (purpose, motivations, goals, ambitions). The building process is a constructive thinking process that results in structures: from sculptures to towers or any shape the user imagines. The slots of no material around the rectangle shape that allows the assemblage, have a characterized "U" shaped with non-orthogonal sides (see fig. 11). This shape allows the Tile to be attached to another Tile with more stability, regardless of the rigidity or imperfection of the material. The Tile can be attached to other objects outside of the building system; at each of the two top corners of the rectangle, it has a characterized cut-out circle, this hole allows, for example, the Tile to be attached to a keyring, (see Fig. 12), or to a pinboard using a pin. Additionally, at the bottom left of the Tile there is a cut-out corner as an indication of the correct direction of the word. The set includes a plurality of connectors and serves as Self- knowledge secondary building elements (connectors) to expand the construction possibilities, (see Fig.15).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As humans, we need to interpret, model, or make sense of the world we experience. All these interpretations are aimed to help us achieve our goals according to what we interpreted. Self-knowledge is a skill that plays a big role in how we interpret our subjective world. Self- knowledge allows us to answer the question "What am I like?” It is the skill that informs us of our mental representations of ourselves. These representations contain attributes that we uniquely pair with ourselves regardless of whether these attributes are stable or dynamic. Self- knowledge has increased value in our society as we continuously recognize the benefits of knowing who we are in our lives, jobs, families, financials, addictions, etc.

Self-knowledge exercises are not new in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, sociology, and cognitive science; however, the existing exercises are mostly in written form. Additionally, many of these exercises are normally paired with a therapist that guides the session. This invention here herein disclosed, explores three- dimensional constructions of Self-Knowledge building elements (Tiles) as building blocks. The US 7022181 discloses a device for psychologically evaluating and treating individuals using words that describe behaviors. However, the system is designed only or a two- dimensional flat surface. It does not let the user discover and analyze a more complex three-dimensional configuration that will better represent the user's view and understanding of the words and the multiple relationships and dynamics between the them.

Each Self-Knowledge building element (Tiles) has different type of worlds: some words represent an aspect of oneself (behaviors, emotions, values, beliefs, habits, fears, etc.), others represent how we build our view of the world or build ourselves (culture, environment, experiences, desires, judgements etc.) and others represent our sense of direction in the world (purpose, motivations, goals, ambitions, etc.). The invention has the goal of increasing self-knowledge and self-awareness of the users without the oversight of a therapist.

Inventions using building blocks for three-dimensional constructions with flat elements have been issued in the past. Users make use of the building elements and their slots to interface elements to one another and thereby create three-dimensional structures. For example, patent number US 201736135A1. (See Fig. 1 and 2).

However, in these previous attempts, three-dimensional building elements have no words on them. The most similar invention is US W02014163070A1 (see Fig. 3, 4, 5) wherein the building element has only one letter, so the user builds words by connecting the pieces. In this invention presented here, the building elements have a specific word already that can be used on the interpretation of the user’s self- knowledge. The building of the three-dimensional objects becomes infinite as the user is playing with the meanings of the words and the relationship among them. The patent US 2010209247A1 (see Fig. 6, 7) also uses letters to form words, however, the structure is not meant to build three-dimensional shapes, but only flat shapes on top of a surface.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A Self-knowledge building system using a plurality of words to build a three-dimensional structure to represent a solution, perspective, or response in regard to a personal situation. The goal of the building system is to have self-exploration and self-discovery to gain self- knowledge in small or big challenges in life. Depending on the type of the goals of the user, the Tiles can be used alone, in a group, with family members, couples, as well as in schools, companies, or for therapy sessions.

FIGURES DESCRIPTION

Fig 1- 7: Prior art

Fig 8: This drawing represents the Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles). (801) - in the center of the tile there is a cutout word. There are more than 80 variations of words. (802) - 8 slots of no material across all sides of the Tile, each slot has been placed at a proportional distance between each other. (803) - at the top right and left corner there is a cut-out circle. (804) - in the corner at the bottom left of the (Tile) there is a cut-out corner as an indication of the correct direction of the word.

Fig 9: This drawing explains how one Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles) are assembled with others.

Fig 10: This shows an example of a built structure, and how the possibilities of building increase due to having 8 slots of no material.

Fig 11: This a close up of the V shape of the slot of no material, that brings stability to the Tile when assembled.

Fig 12: Shows how the Tile can be attached to a Key Ring

Fig 13: Shows how the cut our word creates a window that allows the user to see behind the Tiles Fig 14: Shows how the pen can trace the word and be written on paper.

Fig. 15: Shows the three Secondary Self-knowledge (Connectors)

Fig 16: This drawing shows a few of the diversity of words that the sets include.

Fig 17: This figure shows an example of a structure. A user wanted to build a tower related to his career situation. The base of the tower represents what is holding him back to get a new job, so accordingly, to his own view he selected the four Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) Self-esteem , Fears, Expectations, Resistance. The next floor of the tower, he represented which aspects of himself needed to be changed for him having more chances to get a new job, he selected four additional Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) Control , Focus , Attachments, and Guilt. Finally, he chose the last two Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) Happiness and Achievements to be at the top of the tower.

The set includes 80 Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles)

(see Fig.8) have a rectangular shape and cut-out word at the center of the Tile. Each word represents an aspect of one self from the emotional self, social self, spiritual self-psychological self, words such as culture, environment, ego, behaviors, emotions, values, beliefs, habits, fears, vulnerabilities, dreams, perceptions, self narrative, self-sabotage, control, resistance, guilt, judgments etc. The Tiles have 8 slots of no materials around all its sides, the slots allow to interface one Tile to another one and thereby create three- dimensional structures.

The set also includes 40 Self-knowledge secondary building elements (connectors (see Fig.15). The connectors increase the possibilities of shapes of the construction.

To do the exercise, the user follows four steps to build the desired structure:

Step 1: Stating a question/challenge- The user states a question concerning a current -small or big- challenge in life. For example:

Step 2: Choosing the Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles)-

Once the question is set, the user chooses between 5-10 Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) that represent those parts of him/herself that play a key role in addressing the question/challenge (see Fig. 16) The plurality of words provides meaningful options to the user to gain self-knowledge on specific aspects of themselves. As we are very complex beings, and we are all different, the same Tiles are interpreted differently. For example, the Tile of Boundaries could be used with several perspectives; in a positive or negative perspective -I have poor boundaries or I have strong boundaries- as well as in the present, past, or future. - I had boundaries, I have boundaries, I will have boundaries-. This means that the meaning of one single Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles) changes every time. This provides the user with endless possibilities of play.

Step 3: Assembling the Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles)- With the chosen Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles), the user builds a physical object depending on his/her logic on how to organize the selected words (by hierarchies, groups, patterns, etc.). It is a constructive thinking process that results in structures with different shapes, from sculptures to towers, or any shape the user imagines. For the sake of clarity, here are some examples of what could be the user’s self-narrative that will inform the logic of the structure, it all depends on which words he/she selected:

• Spotting an insight about him/herself in relation to the question/ challenge

• Representing how they feel, think, or act upon the challenge,

• Laying out chain actions represented by the words that could lead to a strategy on how to approach the challenge.

Step 4: Address the challenge- With the gained self-knowledge and enhanced clarity, the user develops a strategy on how he/she could take the first action to address the challenge mentioned in step 1. The user could use their self-narrative represented on the building structure as a reminder of this reflection and his self-knowledge gain by leaving the structure visible in his/her office, bedroom, living room. The user could also disassemble the structure and attach two (or more) Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles) to a keyring.

In a more technical description of the Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles), it is important to mention that the slots of no materials have a characterized “U” shape (see Fig. 11) that allows the Tile to be attached to another Tile with more stability, regardless of the rigidity of the material. It clips the Tile to support the assemblage. This is an improvement from the invention US 201736135A1 (see Fig.l) The Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles) has a total of 8 slots of no material, two more than the six in the just mentioned patent. These two extra slots increase building possibilities. Another main difference of the Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles) from what it has been designed in the field of building-block systems is that the said Tile can be attached to other objects different from the Self-knowledge basic building element (Tiles). At each of the two top corners of the rectangle, it has a characterized cut-out circle, this hole allows, for example, the Tile to be attached to a keyring, (see Fig. 12) Another example would be to attach to a pinboard using a pin.

The last main difference from what exists currently in the market is that the cavity generated by the cut-out word becomes a window, each letter allows the user to see through the material and have a better appreciation of all the words behind the Tiles in the built three- dimensional structure (see Fig. 13) The aforementioned cavity is a stencil, when a pen goes through the Tile the user can define the word in a piece of paper and have uniform typography (see Fig. 14).

Additionally, the set includes a plurality of connectors and serves as Self-knowledge secondary building elements (connectors) to expand the constructing possibilities (see Fig. 15). The connectors provide the user with more possibilities of building three- dimensional structures. There is a connector with a triangle-shape that allows connecting a maximum of 3 Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles). One with a cross-shaped that allows connecting a minimum of 4 maximum of 4 Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles). One with a heptagon-shaped that allows connecting a maximum of 5 Self-knowledge basic building elements (Tiles).

Claims

1. A Self-knowledge building system comprised of a plurality of Self- knowledge basic building elements where said basic building elements have a self-knowledge a word on the element; characterized by a rectangular shape with two long sides and two short sides and a thickness; said Tile has eight slots of no material that allows the tiles to be assembled with each other in a tridimensional manner;

2. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by slots of no materials in a “U” shaped with non-orthogonal sides (1101); this shape allows the said Tiles to secure the stability of the assemblage.

3. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by a word horizontally between the said two short sides that reads left to right; the said word is a cut-out word, and it could replace by a printed word, or a painted word, or written with pen, or an engraved word.

4. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by a cut-out corner (804) at the bottom left corner creating a perpendicular angle.

5. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by a cut-out circle (803) at each of the said two top corners of the rectangular shape.

6. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by three of said slots with no material at each of said two long sides; and one said slot with no material at each of said two short sides,

7. A Self-knowledge building system of claim 1 characterized by a cavity created by the cut-out word, said cavity is a see-through material to have a better glimpse of the other Tiles behind it.

8. A Self-knowledge building system according to claim 7 characterized by a cavity of the cut-out, said cavity is a stencil (1401) where a pen can go through with the intention of tracing the world into a paper or another surface.

9. A Self-knowledge building system according to claim 5 characterized by a cut-out circle (1201) that provides a way of attaching the said Tile to other objects. For example, a keyring.

10. A Self-knowledge building system according to claim 4 characterized by a cut-out corner at the bottom left (804), said corner functions as an indication of the correct direction of the word without having to read the word. A Self-knowledge building system, the said Tile in claim 1 characterized by the ability to attach a secondary Self-knowledge building element; the connectors to provide the user with more possibilities and flexibility of building three-dimensional structures.