Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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-Nothing is as it seems...
We had our office party last night. It is actualy a clinic, but to say 'Clinic Party' sounds a bit odd. Anyway, we had a great time and to keep us all entertained if chatting wasn't enough, we had 'The Great Jared', entertainer, and fiendishly impressive master of close-up magic and psychological illusion.
Jared Manley had us bewitched as he turned four cards into one and replicated one card many times through a pack and changed the time of our watches without (apparently) touching them. What we saw, could not be how it is. But we believed and then disbelieved and believed again as he produced from nothing then transformed matter into nothing. How can 'what is' be not so?
But isn't this like real life? Don't you find that life is a constant series of illusions? Almost everything we come across or what we are involved in can be seen in different ways by different people. Indeed we have our own perspective on the world that's totally unique. If I hold a blank piece of paper up, it may look rectangular in shape when viewed from the front, but a mere slither or fine white line when viewed from the side.
To continue this vein, we may experience some situations as exciting and others are frightened by them. 'Love is in the eye of the beholder,' and thank goodness we are attracted to different people and things otherwise we'd run out of all the goodies. And 'One man's meat is another man's poison'. Wealth for one individual may be an other's poverty.
In Alexander Technique lessons people learn to become more upright and better balanced. Not that they particularly were aware of being off balance or leaning forwards before. Indeed we often feel 'normal' and upright because we have become used to our habits over the years, and when we experience being more upright than usual it can feel very odd and indeed wrong at first....until it becomes more familiar through practice. Before we have Alexander sessions, the wrong thing feels right.....and the right thing feels wrong. Alexander himself had to confront the same situation himself without anyone to help him; he used mirrors. He could see in the reflection that he was clearly stiffening his neck and off balance, but it didn't feel wrong.....it felt right. He therefore had to use the image of his reflection to guide him to change what felt right to something else that felt wrong or unfamiliar, sure that it would serve him better in the future.
We may feel nervous about presenting at a meeting, but our audience will only see 10% of what we feel. What is the real situation, the inner sense of nervousness or the outer apparent confidence?
Nothing is really as it seems. So we can use this to our advantage. It can even be reassuring. Whatever our feelings about a situation, others may see it differently. It's wise not to assume that our impression of a situation is how others will see it. We may not feel worthy of promotion, or the gift, or the applause or the love of others for many reasons, but others may feel differently and wish to bestow gifts on us beyond our expectations. Equally of course, the converse may be true! And while we may do or say something that we feel is entirely reasonable, in a non-critical or judgemental way, others may take it quite badly. We cannot hold ourselves for how others feel.....how they feel is their choice. We can only do our best at being considerate of others.
There is no accounting for how others will perceive the same thing as us. Ahh, the richness of life.....!
If you want to read more about Illusions, get Richard Bach's book of the same title....'Illusions' which I wrote about in a previous post.
Thanks Jared, for a great night.
:-)
