So, now you are in week three of our class and, we imagine, getting the hang of these live-withs. You've had time to experiment with Have No Expectations and Psych(e) Out Your VOJ. Our new live-with, Pay Attention, builds on these first two.
You are becoming familiar with your own creative process and with your VOJ, and when you have a deeper awareness of both, you begin to be more open to the world around you, and the world inside you. This week, we invite you to pay attention to both worlds.
Listen, see, taste, touch and smell with precise observation, as a young child filled with wonder, a scientist absorbed in research, or an alien who has just landed on earth and is seeing things for the first time.
Shake things up! Travel a different route, eat different foods, talk with strangers - do anything you can to have a foreign experience, as if you are a traveller in a new world, because in reality you are. In every moment, life is changing right before your eyes.
So, get out there, and in there, and Pay Attention. Then come back here to fill us in on all the wonder-filled moments you have experienced and how those experiences have affected your Self and your VOJ.
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In an effort to shake things up a bit and follow the advice of my fellow classmate, I started exploring activities I enjoy in order to meet new people with similar interests. I attended a professional event last evening where I didn't know anyone and paid attention to all things new...finding a location I'd never visited and meeting new people brought on a feeling of excitement and anxiety. Listening to a speaker discuss his experience in the Financial industry focused my mind on a subject I rarely contemplate or encounter in my daily high-tech job. All the while I noticed my VOJ popping up to make critical statements of the room I was in, the food that was served, how this new experience was a waste of time, etc. I just observed the thoughts, refocused my mind on the subject at hand as well as the nice people I had met prior to the presentation. How interesting to find such resistance and simultaneous exhilaration at engaging in something new.
ReplyDeleteLori,
ReplyDelete"...resistance and simultaneous exhilaration..."
isn't it interesting how we can feel and hear the different 'voices' at the same time?!
Thanks for sharing this so early in the week. It's generous to share what you are learning with all of us, helping to make all of our experiences that much richer.
Keep shakin' it up!
Julie
I'm the type of person that sticks to what I know. So it was hard to get out of my comfort zone and "shake things up". But I know that I've become so complacent with my surroundings and situation that I go through the motions and don't really pay attention to what I am doing or the circumstances anymore.
ReplyDeleteSo in an effort to really pay attention to how I think and react, I've decided to carpool to work with a new co-worker. She moved to California on a whim a few years ago and is very outgoing, which is complete opposite to how I am. I like planning and don't like big, sudden changes. While talking to her in the car, I've realized that she lives such an exciting life. She's had a vast degree of experiences, from work to personal. Of course, because we're different, I noticed my VOJ telling me negative things about her. At the end of the car ride (I have a 30-mile commute to work), I couldn't help but be a little jealous of her spontaneity. To that, my VOJ told me that I'd never be able to accomplish what she has due to my personality. But I feel like it's one part I can change and challenge myself. So, to further my getting out of my comfort zone, doing something new, and observing my life more closely, I've decided to give grad school a try. I'll keep everyone posted on how my big goal is going. :)
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteThis week’s assignment matched perfectly with the issue I was facing at work. During the past 2 weeks, I asked my boos the final permission to hire a needed team member. The frustrating lack of response made me look at the issue again and change my approach. It took me 2 days to send the new formulated email, and finally early the next day, she called me with an answer to my request.
It is amazing to see how by simply formulating a request differentially actually works.
Eugenie