Showing posts with label stuck and unstuck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stuck and unstuck. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Day 11: Spontaneity and Compulsion

Something to do
on a couch.
A non habitual folding and exploring with the back neck ellbow
and foot (and hip) ( The whole self explores....fun)

Sometimes we are stuck and
being human,
our solution is to do the same
thing
we've done over and over,
but maybe do it a little angrier
or a little faster
or a little harder
or with more swearing
or all four

Usually the results are frustration
sometimes injuring ourselves
and almost never getting the stuck thing undone.
Getting life to move along.

If we are stuck,
it's a habit,
or a pattern.

It can also be fear of doing anything
new,
and almost certainly the habit of
using more force and less intelligence when
"stuck."

Oh, well.

The fear thing is worth looking at:
fear of doing it a new way.
The old was feels familiar.
Feels safe.

And......what if we want freedom
and joy in our life?

Then, dadum da dum, da dum,
awareness to the rescue.

We wake up to the present,
and notice what we are doing and
do something different.

Anything different.

Slower, faster, a different angle, a different timing.
Taking a different perspective.
Lots of possibilities that are dependent on the stuck pattern.

And that's our mindfulness game today:

To notice when we "feel" stuck.
Feel that as emotion. In the present.
And feel the sensations that go along with that emotion.
And notice the thoughts that go along with that stuckness.

And try something else.
Different,
or no,
thoughts.

Different body shape, so the sensations will be different.

Even a different emotion,
or almost always better,
the not quite emotion of
curiosity.
Of wonder.
Of discovery.

Try putting wonder and difference into the
stuck place.

See what happens.

Enjoy.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Stuck to Unstuck



Moshe Feldenkrais ends his book, the Potent Self, with a statement to the effect that
"One of the great joys in life is overcoming difficulties."

There you go.

Life is about challenges,
and even if the challenge is being delighted
in the present,
that challenge is always present.

We want to change weight.
Get jobs more in tune with our real nature.
Make more money.
Move more easily.
Improve golf, tennis, swimming, yoga, walking, dancing.

We want to relax more,
Be happier.

That's a good base line isn't it:

To be happy.

Happiness is who we are meant to be.

Unhappiness is the alarm signal:
not living life as it should be lived.

Joy is who we are meant to be.

Frustration means:
we want something more.

Can we be happy
and present
and excited
to take our frustration
and turn it into learning?

I think, feel and have experienced
that's a pretty nice way to live.

What do you think?


Ciao
for
NOW,

Chris

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

for love of Now: or Awareness unlocks the door

what door?
what lock?

let's say a shoulder is "stuck"
or a mood, like depressed
or a life, like doing the same job someone doesn't like
or a relationship, where A says xxx and B says yyy and A says zzzz
and they get all huffy angry sad
even how they react is a rut

so, life can be rutted
can be stuck

what is the way out?

well the other day,
my gal was in a funk
and I said, oh good,
you are de pressing yourself,
pressing yourself down

how could you do it more?

she came up with some answers:

talk more harshly to herself

tighten chest and belly more

cut off breathing more

I suggested, make the tone of the inner voice more unpleasant

we came up with, dont' see the blue sky
or remember any joy

and so what?

so, by exploring making things "worse"
she's not only laughing her head off,
but realizing, that this "depression" thing
has parts,
and any part she can make "worse"
she can do less of
or
stop

so  that's an unstuck thing

and with a stuck
shoulder:

ah, so much fun
with a shoulder and our neck
or our ribs
or our spine
or our pelvis

how to get shoulder and these
to know each other,
move in the "easy" way,
the opposite of that way

what sorts of multiple layers of possibilities
can we create


and any old stuck thing:

how to get more stuck

what connections to some other part, way, understanding, approach
might we add on

where will curiosity and discovery take us?

we don't know

can we tolerate the "I don't know"
that sets us free?

I hope so

This is short today,
on a plane back to Austin

the book is pretty good,
link above to the contents

108 ways to play with new actions
toward a more enjoyable
and free
and interesting life

good