Sis suggests that we exercise along a new path before our workdays begin this morning. Instead of our village path, we walk westward on the Main Road of Orient Village. Macadam underfoot is more felt than seen. Cassiopeia reigns north, over the Long Island Sound. Orion upholds the south over Peconic Bay. Darkness and macadam offer us solid experience for practicing how it feels to deepen awareness of the nature of that which we touch, depend upon, use to cocreate.
David Whyte writes about how we can more consiously engage the nature of our work, "The right touch at the right time in the right place. The right word at the right time in the right place. Effort and will used only at pivotal moments. How we long for that deftness and that mastery, the ability to tap and cleave the fault lines of our own stubborn, stonelike difficulties. To crack the stonelike essence of our own everyday work. "(Crossing the unknown sea ... p. 120)
At 6:45, Sis drives off to work at the hospital. My neice goes off to school - our social institution designed to help children gather knowledge, know-how, and habits required by work. As they leave, I wish them well. I wish the best for them and those they touch in myriad ways throughout each workday. I sit down to write, making note of all these touchpoints. I realize tht human beings sustain selective attention for some very good reasons...
- the sheer number of perceptions, ideas, people, places, and things we touch in a day would be overwhelming (Ready or not here I come...without selective attention life would become much like a senseless game of tag.)
- seeking patterns helps us make sense...sense is expriencing a kind of touch (Does the word "meaning" originate from the experience of "me and __?" Our stories help us contextualize our patterns. They can help or hinder our move forward. The nature of the stories we weave about ourselves and how life works can help us become depressed, stay stuck, or change direction to create deeper meaning and engage higher purpose.
- A wise elder tells me that to stay in touch we have to talk about the meanings we are making along our pathways. We may become motivated to change direction when we gain insight into where we are heading. (Without making the space and time to talk, understand, and exchange insights our relationships can become one way streets, we parallel play, trust erodes, and fears grow that keep words tucked away, stuck in our heads.)
- This wise woman has taught dance, multimedia film-making, and kinetic awareness for sixty years. Like David Whyte, she finds wisdom in developing our capacities to regulate our efforts and will from within...using effort and will only at pivotal moments redirecting ourselves, overcoming inertia. She teaches the central importance of paying attention to the nature of our bodies, relationships, and social dynamics. her work encourages calling into play the wide array of muscles (small before large), regulating our muscles to generate accuracy before speed, from small before large.
- Observing a master stonecutter of many professional years, David notes that "Allen's speed seems to arise from his ability to discern emerging patterns, even when most other competitors are making the mistake of putting speed first, sweating and heaving their stones into place." (ibid)
This week as we engage our work, let us slow down in favor of accuracy. Let us allow more inquiry, ask deeper questions, go beyond what seems obvious. Let's pay attention to what we touch, what and how it touches us. Stay with this experience, follow this thread. Make time and space to talk about this with important others at work, at home, in the marketplace. Make mental note of emerging patterns...go with the flow... accuracy trumps speed.
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