Margin

The English word margin comes from the Latin word margo which means edge. Its current usage is also used in the context of the provision of space or room. If there is no margin for error, we are on the edge.

Margin provides us with:

• breathing room
• allowances for error
• calmness
• greater levels of creative thinking
• contentment
• energy
• physical refreshment
• the personal effectiveness with others
• increased work quality

When writing the couple of books that I have I have completed, one of the tasks at the outset was to establish the margins according to the publishers preferred parameters. I think we were designed in a way as to have preferred margins, breathing room that is according to who we are and our individual capacities. And just as I had to manually make the margin adjustments in my writing, so it is in our lives. If we don't set the limits, the default is often that the words will run to the sides of the page.