Entries from July 2007 ↓

Colleen Wainright, the communicatrix, is presently participating in a 30-day hypnotherapy experiment and describing it on her blog. Her therapist, Greg Beckett, is apparently using psychosynthesis to find her subpersonalities and help her to get them to work together as a team. But on Day 19 they created a subpersonality that isn’t interested in cooperating. It’s called “the Resistor” and is interested only in resisting everything she tries to do. So she’s doomed to fight it forever if she wants to accomplish anything.

Being a great believer in harmony and the development of personality myself, I find that fascinating. I used the term “created” instead of “uncovered” above because just before the session she had read a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. As Colleen writes, “the chief slayer of creative output, according to Pressfield, is Resistance. It takes many shapes (procrastination is a favorite) but moves inexorably towards its chief goal,” frittering away your precious time. Colleen had come to the session “full of excitement over this great new guide and its mythic depiction of a wiggly idea. But Greg decided to do old Steven one better: he called resistance ‘The Resistor’ and, after putting me under, got it to talk a bit.”

So now Colleen believes the Resistor is an essential part of herself. Who knows, it may very well work for her. It’s just not my style of operating. When I find myself dragging my feet about doing something that part of me wants to do, I honor that resistance and try to understand it. It may be right or it may be wrong, but it’s trying to protect me. Maybe I’ve been working too hard and need a break. Maybe it’s afraid I’ll commit myself to something I will regret. Maybe I’m just facing some tasks that aren’t much fun. At any rate, it’s worth taking a bit of time to see what the underlying issue is and resolve it in the easiest way.

Am I creating my own version of Resistance? Of course, and that doesn’t make it any less useful. I’m after something different than Colleen. She seems to be after “achievements of magnificent fulfillment.” I just want to live my life deeply and share it with others. For me that means not fighting life and myself but enjoying the process. So when I have something to do and find myself dragging my feet, I ask myself “How can I get this done and enjoy the process?” Usually, in the fullness of time, it starts to work.

Photo: Memorial to the French resistance by Rhian vk. Creative Commons license.

It’s been a fun week. For the third year in a row I was “assistant headmistress” at the local Hogwarts (Harry Potter) one-week vacation school. The school was 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus an overnight Friday night and Saturday morning. There were 34 children from grades 1 through 6, divided into four houses. In addition there were six middle- and high-school leaders… four prefects and a head girl and head boy. The school has been occurring for five years now, and its success is probably best measured by the fact the older students, volunteers all, are eager to come back.

The above picture shows some of the students about to participate in the Triwizard Water Competition, one of the fun activities. These planned activities were a great success, but there was also plenty of “house time”, when the students came up with original projects to present to the whole group. I was really impressed with the teamwork in the houses, which included cheerfully cleaning up when that was required.

It was a delightful combination of structure, creativity and just plain fun. The memory is a precious resource, one which I can use throughout the year if my energy and enthusiasm start to wane.

“Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage.” —Erma Bombeck

“He who laughs, lasts.”–Norwegian saying

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
–Proverbs 17:22

I have an ongoing resolution:

• to laugh out loud at least once a day and
• to do my best to share that laugh with someone else.

Mostly I do very well. It’s become a healthy habit. As we can see from the Proverbs quote, people have known about the power of laughter for thousands of years. But did you know scientists have coined a term for the study of the health benefits of laughter? It’s called gelotology. If you haven’t worked more laughter into your life, do yourself and the world a favor. Read about the health benefits and get started laughing more. It could be one of the easiest and most powerful improvements you can make in your health.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m listening again to the first six books of the Harry Potter series. I’ve just started the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix, which until I read John Granger’s Unlocking Harry Potter was my least favorite of the series. After reading Granger’s explanation of how the book fits into the bigger picture of the series, I find it much more interesting. It’s still dark and depressing, but there’s a reason for it. And that’s a great lesson to remember. Any situation is less stressful when it has meaning, when it is related to some important purpose or mission. Harry feels angry and alienated at times in this book because he feels left out and doesn’t understand what is happening. He even feels helpless and useless.

Fortunately, in our own lives we can discover what our own life purpose is and do something to reinforce our commitment to it. Even if we can’t always change external circumstances, we can always change our reaction to it. Taking a lesson from Harry and stepping back to see the bigger picture of our lives can be invaluable.

The picture on the left was taken when my daughter was a baby. She couldn’t read at the time, of course. She was just mimicking her parents. It’s one of my favorite pictures because I believe a commitment to lifelong learning is one of the best gifts a parent can give a child. And I believe a commitment to lifelong learning is one of the best gifts we can give to ourselves.

Adam Kace at Monk at Work has recently asked What’s Your Learning Edge? What have we been reading and learning that really lights our fire? At the moment for me it’s listening again to audio books of the Harry Potter series as well as reading several books about the series:

• John Granger’s Finding God in Harry Potter,
• John Granger’s Unlocking Harry Potter–Five Keys for the Serious Reader, and
• Louis CasaBianca’s Defogging the Future–Unauthorized Speculation About the Seventh and Final Book of the Harry Potter Series

Is that really the best use of my time right now? Definitely yes. Defogging the Future is a fun read as well as making me realize how much I missed the first time I listened to the books. John Granger analyzes the works as serious literature. It’s been years since I read a literary analysis and again, he makes me aware of how much I missed just thinking of the books as adventure stories.

But what practical use is it? It’s impossible to predict. Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple, dropped out of college and started auditing the courses that interested him instead of the ones that were required. As he has said, “…much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.” Richard Feynman started analyzing the motion of a plate students were using as a Frisbee. He did it just for fun because he was stuck looking for a good project to work on. It turned out what he learned playing around had relevance to quantum electrodynamics and eventually led to the Nobel Prize he won.

So don’t be afraid to play, to pursue some interests just because they fascinate you. Your play may or may not end up having direct practical value, but it will keep you creative and fully alive. That alone is one of the best preparations for thriving in this rapidly changing world.