Hi Troy! You asked: “When was the last time you walked into a room or a conversation that returned you to your senses?” I had a meeting on Thursday with a coworker with whom I’ve been somewhat estranged. They’ve been away from work for a variety of personal reasons and for months I have felt really disconnected from this person with whom I’ve worked very closely in the past. Since they’ve returned, I haven’t done much to refresh or engage the relationship.
Our meeting was to plan a creative project, but I started by first asking, “So what’s going with you?” That triggered a response that was unexpected by both of us, and a real outpouring of honest sharing, about pain and struggles.
It was authentic and pure, and warm enough to thaw the ice that had built up, and reveal what was going on beneath the surface.
We didn’t plan our project (that got rescheduled) but we did reestablish our friendship and a healthier working relationship.
And I’ve found myself reflecting on the meeting over the last few days, with a real sense of peace, well-being.
Thank you, Troy! I resonate with your observation that wisdom flows in. While I come from a specific theological understanding of how that flow works, and perhaps you do too, my curiosity is asking how do I bring the reality that wisdom flows in to individuals and organizations which do not share my theological view? Of course, after years of practice, I can certainly sit with people who have a different theological view, and I can watch wisdom flow without overlaying my theological view. But I would appreciate a conversation about the optimal ways of sharing the precious realization that wisdom flows in with those who haven’t yet realized it.
Perhaps we'll find a way to take that on in a bigger post. My initial response is that "faithing" (a verb practiced in my Contemplative Christian tradition, but much wider as a shared human religious experience) somehow shapes the mind/heart/body to big W "Wisdom" as infinite and eminently pouring out and transforming with and-through-and-as-us. So, in any tradition or lineage people practice listening for Wisdom. Somatics recognizes that the "will" to move through the unknown—to act with the body in compassion and courage—is to cross the threshold of control/safety/belonging held my our survival intelligence... It's never our job to make someone or ourselves act in such a way. But a co-regulated connected human (the conditions create possibility) can begin to sense and respond to that call... and then more is revealed.
The only way is through.
Let me put more thought into this and post on that. Its such a good question and deserves more time!
Thank you for that language. It opens communication and affirms my current practice. And I continue to feel frustration. My therapist, who I experience as spiritually minded, could not hear me talk about my dark night of my soul, but kept coming back to potential psychological meaning of details of the dream we had started the conversation with! Oh well. I look forward to your further reflections. This is a life-time project so I am not anxious about "getting it."
Lovely, Eric!❤️🩹 I love how a simple question was enough to warm the built up ice. "Unexpected" is the way forward... I keep learning that my expectations have way too small a shelf life.
Hi Troy! You asked: “When was the last time you walked into a room or a conversation that returned you to your senses?” I had a meeting on Thursday with a coworker with whom I’ve been somewhat estranged. They’ve been away from work for a variety of personal reasons and for months I have felt really disconnected from this person with whom I’ve worked very closely in the past. Since they’ve returned, I haven’t done much to refresh or engage the relationship.
Our meeting was to plan a creative project, but I started by first asking, “So what’s going with you?” That triggered a response that was unexpected by both of us, and a real outpouring of honest sharing, about pain and struggles.
It was authentic and pure, and warm enough to thaw the ice that had built up, and reveal what was going on beneath the surface.
We didn’t plan our project (that got rescheduled) but we did reestablish our friendship and a healthier working relationship.
And I’ve found myself reflecting on the meeting over the last few days, with a real sense of peace, well-being.
Thank you, Troy! I resonate with your observation that wisdom flows in. While I come from a specific theological understanding of how that flow works, and perhaps you do too, my curiosity is asking how do I bring the reality that wisdom flows in to individuals and organizations which do not share my theological view? Of course, after years of practice, I can certainly sit with people who have a different theological view, and I can watch wisdom flow without overlaying my theological view. But I would appreciate a conversation about the optimal ways of sharing the precious realization that wisdom flows in with those who haven’t yet realized it.
Clark. Such a vulnerable question!
Perhaps we'll find a way to take that on in a bigger post. My initial response is that "faithing" (a verb practiced in my Contemplative Christian tradition, but much wider as a shared human religious experience) somehow shapes the mind/heart/body to big W "Wisdom" as infinite and eminently pouring out and transforming with and-through-and-as-us. So, in any tradition or lineage people practice listening for Wisdom. Somatics recognizes that the "will" to move through the unknown—to act with the body in compassion and courage—is to cross the threshold of control/safety/belonging held my our survival intelligence... It's never our job to make someone or ourselves act in such a way. But a co-regulated connected human (the conditions create possibility) can begin to sense and respond to that call... and then more is revealed.
The only way is through.
Let me put more thought into this and post on that. Its such a good question and deserves more time!
Thank you for that language. It opens communication and affirms my current practice. And I continue to feel frustration. My therapist, who I experience as spiritually minded, could not hear me talk about my dark night of my soul, but kept coming back to potential psychological meaning of details of the dream we had started the conversation with! Oh well. I look forward to your further reflections. This is a life-time project so I am not anxious about "getting it."
Thaw ICE now !!!
Indeed!
Lovely, Eric!❤️🩹 I love how a simple question was enough to warm the built up ice. "Unexpected" is the way forward... I keep learning that my expectations have way too small a shelf life.
So great to hear from you.