Context scramble

Context scramble: This weekend I had an experience that illustrates context scramble perfectly. A context scramble is a situation is which a person's understanding of the event is not what is actually happening. In other words, the context that you put the event in may not be accurate. On Saturday, I was attending the Sacred Dance Festival and we all had ordered box lunches. As I went to get my lunch, I passed a man dressed as a woman, with a blond braid and very nice makeup. I said, "Hello, Michael" thinking that this was a minister of the church that was taking a holiday from being a man. He said, "My name is not Michael, it is Greta. And I am here to serve the food." I thought, "Oh, he doesn't want to admit he is Michael and he thinks that if he is to help out with food, then he must take on the persona of a women since it is a woman's role to serve food and not the role of a male minister of the church." This thought was very upsetting to me. "How sexist," I thought and could not shake this out of my mind. The next day at church I saw the minister, Michael, and thought, "my, his energy has changed--much more masculine." Then I turned around and there was Greta with the same softer, more feminine energy of the day before. Uh-oh! Michael and Greta were not the same person after all. As it turned out, Greta was a transgender man who was actually the chef for the box lunches we had received the day before. And the box lunches were most delicious and prepared with great love and attention to detail. Naturally, my anger had not more reason to be and left as rapidly as it had came. It was perfectly obvious that my reaction had to do with my own misunderstanding of who Greta was and not the actual reality. Wow! Really funny.

Heart centered dance

Heart Centered Dance: It is through the dance that we enable a connection with ourselves at the level of the body and the heart. First we pay attention to the sensations of the body and moving from there to the heart centered space, we slow down to get in touch with what we can appreciate at that moment. Focusing on what we appreciate or are grateful for is one of the quickest ways of creating a focused and balanced heart space. One word can then be found and shared with the group that captures the essence of the space we have stepped into.

Part of the healing power of the dance as it existed in the agricultural societies of the Balkans was the conversation that would take place among members of the community as a part of the dance. As dancers would join the line, they would often find a friend that they had been looking forward to seeing that day and with whom they had a lot of catching up to do. (I wonder if this would have been more true for women than men?) As they danced and felt the joy of the music, they would share the ups and downs of their lives. I believe this is a ritual that had a powerful healing power. Not only did this provide an opportunity to process the stuff of their lives and the emotional reactions to it, but the continued dancing after conversation had ceased, also allowed an opportunity for the nervous system to reorganize itself in new patterns. This reorganization is what would allow the movement forward into new ways of being and doing that living requires.

Then, I was thinking that it might be good to start a workshop suggesting that each person begin the dance next to someone they know or would like to get to know. And, while the dance progresses to begin sharing with each other about their lives, particularly the most recent happenings. With the second dance, each person could find a new partner and continue the process. With the third dance, time could be spent focusing on the body and the area of the heart. In this fashion, we create a pathway to the intellect that is informed by the wisdom of the body and the intelligence of the heart.

Maximizing Productivity

Maximizing productivity:

In reading the Time Management page of a website called Strategies for Success, I was struck by how much sense it made. At the same time, I feel there is a major issue that was not addressed. The infomation given very clearly said that major distractions to getting things done includes watching TV, unplanned visits with family and friends, etc. But what about the value of engaging in these activities? Should they just be avoided at all costs if one wishes to be effective in the management of one's time?

I believe that down time is essential to one's productivity. That is to say, that regular time off from the focus one maintains in order to be productive is necessary. So a period of sustained focus followed by a period of relaxation is optimal for maximum productivity. The specifics of the time periods involved needs to be worked out by and for each person. For example, one might find it very effective to work for four hours, have lunch, take a nap and, then, work for another four hours.

I also believe it is always necessary to have a long stretch of time once a week to just vegetate, see friends, watch movies, work in the yard, etc. Vegetating does not mean one needs to be a couch potatoe or cease all activity. What it means is that the activity needs to change to one that does not require focus: a shift from left brain to right brain activity if you will.

There are studies that reinforce this notion of brain rest as a part of optimizing productivity. One such study shows that learning/memory is enhanced if a period of sleep is interposed between bouts of study. A related idea is that the best way to live life and be productive is to be in "Go, go, go!" mode: straight ahead with no deviations from the path.

This might be a way to be productive if utilized in short bursts, but it is definitely not the way to live one's life. One needs to move ahead in a relaxed fashion with periodic pauses to review one's progress and to incorporate the past into the present before one moves ahead again. This produces and ebb and a flow--a rhythm to life that is very pleasant--and is necessary--I believe--to the life well lived.