DEAR READERS,
Wednesday, when I sent out my blog post, I forgot to ask you again for words starting with “d” that I might use as the topic for next week’s post. So if you have suggestions, please leave them under comment.
Thanks for your ideas,
Georganne
How do you work through things in your life? Does that approach usually work? How you make your best contact with other people?
In the 1970’s when I was a dancer, I was fortunate to study improvisation with Liz Lerman in Washington, DC and to perform a dance she created for Choreo 18, the modern dance company of which I was a member.
Recently, I watched a video interview with her. Many good memories flooded my head, especially learning how to creatively explore my movement in more depth. But what struck me most profoundly was when she asked, “Do you use rehearsals in your life?’
The Value of Rehearsing
She pointed out that in rehearsals you try out different movements, analyze what you are doing, and look for the right movement to create what you want others to see or what you want to communicate. She then suggested that perhaps we could do this to discover how we can be in a “better way together.”
When a problem arises, how do we attempt to solve it? It may be a recurring problem to which we found a workable solution in the past, so we do what we have always done. But if the challenge is a new issue or complex, we may have to improvise by considering and trying out several possibilities in order to find a solution that is workable.
Rehearsals Show Us New Options
Certainly the pandemic has challenged us to find new ways to entertain or enrich ourselves without being face to face with others. Liz and the members of her walking group have adapted to the quarantine by using their phones as they walk through the streets or forests. Some of them live in different countries, but can still connect and walk “together.”
My rehearsals with words continue every day as I write, exchanging words and tenses to say exactly what I want to say. It’s rare that I’m happy with the first version of any sentence, so I must rehearse various ways to describe the perfect moment or spoken sentence. I may change the character who speaks or let the verbal statement become a thought.
Rehearsals Can Improve Relationships
In relationships we have to develop ways to communicate, especially when conflict arises. A rehearsal may be needed to develop a satisfactory approach to discuss our differences. Shouting never leads us to an effective conclusion so we need to ask, as Liz does, how can we be together in a better way?
Perhaps sitting down, each with a cup of tea or coffee, is a good start to the conversation. We may need to Zoom with the people with whom we don’t live. Being face to face always improves communication.
When we have discerned a way to talk respectfully with each other, we will probably have more than one rehearsal before we have created the perfect solution for the two of us. Even then our plan may often need a few adjustments.
The show that is our lives must go on. Rehearsals always bring our creativity to the surface and hopefully help us find the best solution to our challenges. During this dance of life, may you rehearse what is the best in all areas of your life.
© 2021 Georganne Spruce
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AWAKENING TO IMPROVISE OUR LIVES
AWAKENING TO THE DANCE OF THE HEART
What dreams do you have for today or next week? Do you have to postpone some dreams because of the pandemic? Has this situation pushed you to create new dreams?
These are certainly days that challenge the dreams we used to have during “normal” times. Depending on the nature of the dream, there may be some we have to put aside or release completely. I won’t be traveling on an airplane halfway across the country to see the rest of my family. My husband and I won’t be traveling to Ireland or Scotland this year.
Having to put aside our dreams may depress us. Langston Hughes describes the situation very dramatically, “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” While his statement is more poetic and I may sometimes feel like the “broken-winged bird, I prefer Steinem’s approach.
If We Begin, Others May Help Us Complete the Plan
For a number of years, I attended writing workshops and developed on-going relationships with more experienced writers. I dreamed about writing a memoir, hoping that the story of my spiritual journey would encourage others to follow their dreams. However, my fears of the publishing process kept me from completing the book. No publishing company was going to publish a memoir by an unknown person. Finally, I decided to do one thing at a time and the first thing was to simply complete the writing.
After the memoir was written, I was delightedly surprised by two experienced writers in my critique group who offered to help. They guided me through the technical details to self-publish a paperback book and one actually did the technical work on the e-book. Without the dream, this book would never have been created.
Overcoming Roadblocks
Dreaming is actually the first step in planning, for we have to imagine what we want to do before we can take any steps to get there. But even in the dreaming stage we may come across roadblocks, such as fear or limited time. What internal or external blocks do we have to overcome?
Self-doubt is often a major roadblock. If we feel we’re not good enough to achieve our desire, we may not even make the effort. I dreamed of being a dancer from a young age, but I was weak and my parents couldn’t afford classes. Still, I kept imagining what it felt like and improvised in my own ways. It wasn’t until I was in high school and had regular modern dance classes that my dream became a possibility.
As I gained strength and continued to train, I knew I was behind most dancers in those two areas, but what had once seemed totally impossible became a planned attempt to accomplish the goal of becoming a dancer. In the 1970’s the dream became reality when I was chosen to dance in a modern company.
What roadblocks do you have to overcome to make your dreams come true? Are they internal or external? It is not unusual to have both. Sometimes there is a roadblock because we have not taken the time to explore and imagine the many ways we could make a dream become a reality.
Explore A Dream Like A Detective
Why not approach the problem we wish to change as if we are detectives? What is really involved? Is what we need available? If not, is there another way to approach the challenge? Whose help do we need? What steps need to be taken? Do we have the ability to take these steps? If not, do we need to change our goal or find other steps to take?
During this challenging time of the pandemic, I am impressed by the way that people who have time on their hands are filling it. Some musicians are playing online daily and poets are presenting a poem every day. Those with carpentry skills are enlarging windows or making porches into bedrooms. Friends often mention they are cleaning or fixing parts of the house they had put off in the past. Since it’s warm weather, many are growing vegetables or sprucing up their simple yard with flowers and creating a beautiful garden.
Others who have lost jobs are creating new ones by sewing masks and clothing and selling them online. Restaurants and grocery stores have increased delivery service. Writing teachers are creating virtual classes as are many schools. These creations began with dreaming that became a plan and then reality.
Dreaming allows us to open our minds to a wider understanding than what the logical part of our minds can envision and to move forward in ways we may never have anticipated. Dreaming is creative and creativity is magical. It can open doors to amazing places.
© 2020 Georganne Spruce
Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness
AWAKENING TO EXPERIMENT WITH LIFE
When you don’t know what to do, how do you approach that situation? Do you create a plan or improvise?
When we don’t know what to do, we often improvise. Sometimes that works out well, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least we may have learned from the experience.
This pandemic time is especially stressful for those who want life to stay the same and have a set plan to live by, but it requires some change for virtually all of us, and that can lead us to do things that we don’t usually do.
We can create new games for our children, bake bread, work on the novel we’d put away, zoom with friends we rarely have coffee with, and we wear masks when we go out rather than just wearing them at Halloween.
We Can Learn About Life From Jazz
While changes in life create some discomfort for us all, the ability to improvise can make all the difference in what comes next. In Niels Lan Doky’s wonderful video “How Jazz Wisdom Will Change Your Life,” he says, “You can always create something out of anything.” Really? Why not?
I hope you will watch Doky’s video because it is profound. He states that you can apply the principles of jazz technique to your life. They are the ability to adapt to change, the ability to be creative on demand, and the ability to treat your life as a work of art.
Following the Unknown Path
When I look at my own life, I can honestly say it has not followed a planned path. I’ve had to improvise. As a result, I’ve been exposed to situations that helped me grow. I would not have thought to create them. For example, I’ve moved many times, each for a different reason. Things just happened.
I was living in Denver working at an art school and teaching modern dance part-time when the economy in the 1980’s bottomed out. I lost my full-time job and couldn’t live on part-time work. I didn’t know what to do. I loved being close to artsy Boulder, was exploring Buddhism, and had a meditation community that supported my spiritual growth.
Making Changes
At the same time, my brother, my only sibling, lived in New Orleans, with his wife and kids. Since I didn’t have kids, I liked the idea of being near him and experiencing his children going up. My parents also lived there. There was much I didn’t like about New Orleans, especially the humid weather, but it was also an artsy place, so I thought, “Why not?”
During the twelve years I lived in New Orleans, my world greatly expanded. I loved knowing my brother’s children as they grew up, being close to family, and enjoying the arts. I worked as a full-time high school teacher in two excellent situations. I taught multicultural literature in a private Catholic girl’s school and later taught in a public school in the African-American community. As a result of this second position, I was one of several teachers who traveled in West Africa for six weeks on a grant.
The Value of Choices We Prefer Not to Make
Unfortunately, after twelve years in New Orleans, I became ill with Chronic Fatique Syndrome. My doctor was adamant that I needed to live in a dry environment in order to get well. I had no idea what to do. Then, that summer, a close woman friend of mine decided to move to Albuquerque to be near her family. After she moved, she invited me to visit.
During that visit, I fell in love with the colorful art I saw throughout the city and in Santa Fe. For the first time, I saw art on the side of buildings. Art and brilliant colors were everywhere! Amazingly, when I applied for a teaching job for the new school year, I was hired.
Although I never felt at home living in the desert, I liked being near mountains, and the sunsets were stunning. Teaching in one school with mostly Native American students taught me about the reality of their culture, its beauty and its challenges. Again my cultural awareness was expanded. After four years in New Mexico, I was cured of the Chronic Fatigue and ready to move on.
By this time, two of my friends from New Orleans had moved to Asheville. I had previously visited them several times and loved being among the mountains and forests. It felt like my soul’s home and similar to the land in Arkansas where I grew up. So I improvised again.
The Values of Improvisation
Perhaps I could consider these changes because I had learned the value of improvising when I was a modern dancer. When a dancer improvises, she never knows where the dance will go or what the outcome will be. Each moment, the movement changes. The interaction of the dancers shifts. Often the result is a beautiful phrase of movement one could not have imagined.
Life can be like that too. When we are confronted with a new situation, how we choose to respond may take us to places we never dreamed we could go and awaken us to a new dance of life. I am grateful that I found the courage to improvise, for that decision has led me to a richer life. May you find the courage to improvise too.
Be sure to watch Doky’s video and see how your life is like jazz. Cool!
© 2020 Georganne Spruce
TRANSFORMING THE FEAR OF CHANGE
Posted in Inspirational Posts
Tagged Awakening to the Dance, Consciousness, Fear, Inner Strength, Inspirational, Letting Go, Self-awareness, Spirituality
What effect does constant activity or noise have on you? Are you able to find any stillness in your day? How does a time of stillness help you?
I’m always amazed by the thoughts that appear when I find a new quote to use for my blog post. Of course, the first thing that came to mind as I read this quote was meditation and how, as the meditation deepens, it feels like my energy is expanding radiantly.
But the second image that appeared this morning was a medieval castle surrounded by a moat. What could that possibly have to do with life now? The answer appeared quickly. The castles were surrounded by moats in order to make it more difficult for the enemies of the people who lived there to attack them.
Living there was also a kind of isolation from the world around them. There may have been many people who lived there, including perhaps a king and queen, but the walls defined a limited area where they could be active. I also suspect that the coronavirus is less predictable than the medieval enemies who could be seen from the high towers approaching from miles away.
How Confinement Affects Us
While most of us don’t live in a castle, we are confined to our houses and apartments, most of which are not huge or built on a large expanse of land. These spaces can feel very confining. At least here in the mountains, those people who live close to forest trails where they can walk are fortunate, and the trails are certainly more inspiring than the paved street in front of my house.
Being isolated isn’t always pleasant but it does have some advantages if we choose to acknowledge them. A friend on Facebook recently posted a picture of herself and her husband smiling and looking extremely happy. She pointed out that she had been afraid that in the isolation they would be uncomfortable and argue with each other, but in reality, they are more loving than before.
I must admit I had the same fears about my husband and me. But we have been very loving and peaceful with each other. Even the amount of corny jokes we share has increased. We’ve also been busier than we expected with work we have created for ourselves or which is a result of the limit on business because of the virus.
Because we are retired, there is more time to be still, and in that stillness, we may let the anxieties of the day slip away for a while. Meditation is always a good way to calm ourselves or listening to soothing music. I often just sit and watch the squirrels in the yard chase each other and fly from tree to tree or walk through the yard to see what new wild flowers have popped up.
The Unknown Makes Us Fearful
It is impossible to know how long our isolation will last so we have to live in the moment. When we start feeling fearful or angry about it, we could make some bad decisions because these negative emotions lead us to negative thoughts. Some people think we don’t still need to keep our distance, but going out of our homes is foolish and endangers us and anyone who comes in contact with us because this virus’s symptoms can be very hidden or misleading.
Finding Our Hearts
When we feel fearful, angry, or just frustrated, we most need to take a deep breath, find the stillness, and sit with it until we can release our negative feelings. In the stillness we can ask for spiritual guidance and the wisdom peace can bring. This wisdom that comes from deep inside when we are quiet nourishes us in a way nothing else will, for it is not just an activity of the mind. It is also from the heart.
Finding the stillness within transforms us. Mary Oliver reminds us of the beauty of transformation in nature—a transformation that may occur in us as well.
“When the praying mantis opens its wings
it becomes a green flower.”
By opening its wings, the praying mantis becomes more beautiful. By opening our minds and releasing our fears, we are able to understand how to act from the heart not the head. When we are in touch with our hearts, we may flower into a stronger person and find a better path through the stillness of isolation.
© 2020 Georganne Spruce
AWAKENING TO SPIRITUAL SURRENDER
How do you see the current situation? Does it depress you every day? Do you ignore what is happening outside your house? How does it affect your thinking?
The thought comes up several times a day – Is this really happening? It’s like a bad dream from which I keep hoping I will awaken. It’s a sunny day, a rarity among the many rainy ones, and I want to walk around the lake, either of the two nearby, but there’s a ban on going to the public parks that surround them. I feel angry about that. Isn’t that too extreme?
FACING REALITY
Then I remember. A public park is where my brother caught polio when he was two years old. The family was at a church picnic in a large crowd. Lots of little kids were playing together. His experience with polio was a tragedy and a miracle. He was in an iron lung for many weeks and died three times but came back to life each time. Despite having many surgeries as a child, he grew up to live a productive life, working and doing good in the world.
But not all tragedies are followed by a miracle. Many children died from polio or were seriously handicapped. It is always easier to believe bad things will not happen to us. I suspect at least some of the people who have died from the coronavirus have thought so.
It is always a good thing to be able to think positively, but it’s not good to ignore reality. So when reality is unpleasant, how can we think positively about it? Is there something we can learn? I think so.
FACING INDIVIDUAL REALITY
Perhaps it is easier for me to accept staying at home right now because I’m an introvert and I have a husband who is an interesting companion. I love to read. I love to write and that requires staying in. But staying in may push us to face the need to start spring cleaning early, get back in touch with an old friend, learn to use more technology, communicate with family and friends, meditate to calm our overactive minds, or play more Scrabble with family members.
Of course, if we have been laid off or the business where we work has been closed, we have much more to worry about. There are far too many people in this country who make little money for full-time work or have to work several part-time jobs to survive. They are the ones hardest hit by this pandemic.
FINDING ANSWERS WITHIN
So, what can we do to manage the fears that come with this hardship? We can take time each day to sit quietly, breathe deeply, direct our minds to release our fear, and choose to let it go, flowing outward with each breath. Sit until the mind is clear, then ask “What do I need to do today?”
Our inner selves know the answer to that question and it may take some time and more than one sitting to hear the answer. Sometimes we need to be quiet and take the time to find something positive about a situation that we would never notice if we stay “in action” all the time. And when we are dealing with many negatives, the silence may help us see what we need to do given limited circumstances.
Perhaps this event can be the opportunity to deepen and enrich our lives, to look for and experience a positive way of thinking about change that we have rejected in the past. One thing already clear about this pandemic is how unprepared the country was. It has brought to light much that needs to be changed. Perhaps it has also brought things to light that need to be changed in our own lives. And that is good. While changing them may be extremely difficult in some instances, we may now have the time to evaluate what we need to do.
Blessings to you all. Stay safe.
© 2020 Georganne Spruce
AWAKENING TO BEFRIEND OURSELVES
What has happened to you recently that was disturbing? What did you think about it? How did you handle the situation?
We all have times in our lives when things don’t go the way we want. When that happens, how do we handle it? What we do can make all the difference in how we experience the situation. More than once I’ve lost a job. The reasons varied. When I was young I thought I could speak honestly with my boss, but I quickly learned that bosses often only want to hear what they want to hear. You play the game or you lose, but I was too naïve to understand this.
Being Shocked By The Challenge
For two years, I worked as an employment counselor at a fine arts school. My boss had helped found the school and had developed very specific procedures for my job. I loved the work and I was very successful helping students find employment while in school.
We were doing so well that we needed another counselor and the boss hired a second woman to fill the gap. After a while, I realized she wasn’t following the boss’s guidelines. As a result, her actions created conflict and affected my work, and she often flirted with him and behaved unprofessionally.
I became very upset and every day there was a new challenge that wore me down. The only other “adult” in the office refused to become involved, and when things reached the breaking point for me and I talked again with my boss, he fired me despite the fact I was the one getting the students the most jobs.
How could I be fired for doing the best job? The unfairness stunned me, and when I complained to the president, she apologized but did nothing. Being fair was a basic part of my moral values and I was devastated by this experience. How could I trust any school or business?
Looking At the Source of the Challenge
I was angry for a long time and deeply sad because I had loved the job and nothing else like it was available in the area. I didn’t understand why this could happen, but when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and analyzed the situation, I realized the attention my boss received from the other woman made him feel good and that was more important than production.
He was a hugely overweight single man whom I suspected lived a rather solitary life. Suddenly, every day he had this attractive woman fawning over him, getting him coffee, making him laugh, behaving like his girlfriend despite the fact that she lived with a boyfriend. While I was pleasant interacting with him, I had maintained professional behavior.
Letting Our Negative Thoughts Feelings Go
Accepting that some situations are not fair is difficult. One feels helpless. While it is important to examine the situation and try to understand what, if anything, we did wrong, it is also important to let go and move on. I had to accept the fact that I did my best, and that I did the right thing by continuing to behave professionally.
So, what can we do when these negative experiences overwhelm us? I’ve always found that quiet time is very valuable and helps to release the negative thoughts that keep circling through my mind. Some people may “run-off” the stress through exercise, talk to a best friend, meditate or go hiking through the woods.
Releasing the Fear
Regardless of the practice we use, we must release the fear beneath our feelings of anger or inadequacy. My method is to quietly breath deeply and when I feel the tension releasing, I direct my mind “Release this fear (name it), it has no power over me.” I take another deep breath and feel positive energy rising through my body, and I repeat the phrase until I feel my mind release the fear.
Using Affirmations
The validation that we are good must come from within. Self-affirmations may also help heal for they remind us who we really are. Regardless of what others say, I accept that “I am a loving and competent person.” Repeating this positive message helps us to remember there is much good about us; we don’t need to believe in the negativity that limits us. The exact words we use must be fashioned to fit our particular situation.
After this experience at the art school, I had another negative experience in the business world. This was very scary because I was barely supporting myself on low wages and needed reliable employment. I had thought I could make better wages in the business world, but in the end I returned to teaching, my first love. While the wages were low there, I was doing work that really mattered to my teenage students, and that lifted me up regardless of the challenges.
What self-affirmations work for you?
DANCING TO CHALLENGING EXPERIENCES
© 2020 Georganne Spruce
This Saturday I will be participating with other area authors in the Sixth Annual Asheville Bookfest at the Haywood Park Hotel in the Atrium from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. For the schedule see http://www.ashevillebookfest.com/bookfest-events.html.
Four other authors and I will be reading at 4:30 followed by Thomas Rain Crowe, the featured speaker.
Grateful Steps Book Signing
Posted in Inspirational Posts
Tagged Awakening to the Dance, Inspirational, Joy, Light, Love, Oneness, Wholeness
Available at Create Space, Amazon or Barnes and Noble as ebook and paperback and in Asheville, NC - Grateful Steps Bookshop, See "The Book" for more information and video & Review by Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Contest judge
Visit Barbara Franken's website to read this free book, a collection of blogs and essays on compassion.
Contains my poem "Soul Mate"
Awakening to the Dance 