ready

I wrote my One Thing today, and I really like it but I can’t post it. It is too much for this moment, not the right time. I’ll hang onto it and maybe you’ll see it later. So I need to write another one, and that is conflicting with my need to go to bed. I’ll keep this short.

[Side Note: this is a picture of “The Mighty Heart” that I drew for 5th grade science class. It seems relevant to what I’m going to write.] → → → → → →

The One Thing I originally wrote today is partially about how we can get sideswiped when we least expect it. We think we are moving forward, picking up steam, climbing the mountain, dancing to our own song – pick your cliché. And then WHAM! Someone or something comes bumping or crashing into our path and we’re thrown.

This seems pretty normal. We all have our things that go WHAM and throw us off. (Sometimes those things are videos of the band Wham! and they are throwing us off through their 1980s ridiculous perfection, but those are not the things I am writing of here.)

Sometimes we try to make all the things stop WHAM-ing us, but really what we need to do is keep practicing not falling down when we’re WHAM-ed.

I teach a lesson in my movement classes about finding our core strength – really finding it, not just going through the motions.

In pairs, the students (and I) try to gently push each other off center. (I emphasize “gently” – this is not about force.) The person being pushed is usually amazed at how quickly they can be moved from what they thought was a pretty solid stance.

So they adjust and try again. And adjust and try again.

Eventually, through developing awareness, practicing, and learning, they are able to stay centered. Their partner can even begin to push a bit harder, and they will stay solid. Or even if they sway a bit, they recover more quickly. The nudges keep coming, but they’re okay.

This is what we need to practice. The WHAMs (and nudges) are going to keep coming and keep coming – usually when we least expect it, and in different ways for all of us. We can’t “work on” making them stop, not really.

What we CAN do is practice finding our center, trusting our strength, and staying grounded – and we can learn to recover more quickly when we’re nudged. Then we’re more ready for the WHAMs, no matter when they come.

(If nothing else, go watch that Wham! video, just for kicks. Who doesn’t need a little nostalgic view back to feathered hair, short shorts, neon black light, and leaping men in white shirts every now and then, to keep you centered?)

 

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