Last Saturday afternoon I watched our 2nd XV rugby at home. In the bar after the game, I became aware that my car keys had gone - no longer in my various pockets.
I went out to the pitch and proceeded to retrace as many steps as I could, remembering where I'd walked in the course of watching the match. I was confident at this stage I would find them, and I engaged in some conscious-unconscious dialogue to pool all resources! All to no avail!
I left the car at the club field and got a lift home. Next day was pleasant and sunny, so I incorporated walking the dog with re-searching the relevant areas of the field. Again, no joy. I then went to the police station to see if they had been handed in. This turned up nothing either!
At this stage I was beginning to think the best method was to use a metal detector - without really applying some of my own previously used methods.
Monday came,and it was another sunny day - so I set out once more to search.
Only this time I decided to be meticulous in (a) my walking the search areas and (b) my close attention to those areas.
In the course of a lot of my technical sports coaching, I tell players to REALLY watch the ball, study rather than just look at it. I concluded that in the course of my previous searches I had been looking for something small enough to be covered by leaves and hidden in lengthy grass. I wasn't giving it my 'best shot' in other words - I was guessing, and not even best guessing.
I duly found the keys, and with it came a surge of feeling of success and freedom - rather akin to how I felt when I passed my driving test many years ago!
Apart from the obvious - what learning opportunities has this presented for me?
* Was the losing of the keys unconsciously noticeable?
* Heed my own advice and use ALL the sensual resources available to me.
* Avoid guesswork when quality information is easily available.
* Is this kind of search an analogue or a digital process? When I know the answer, act accordingly.
PW
The Wright Way
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sensations
This post is inspired by two random yet, for me, synchronous posts by colleagues on Facebook.
The first was a quote by the artist Paul Cezanne:-
"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations."
This reminded me of a recent conversation with my mother about her own method of painting when she sets out to paint a copy of a Great Master. Her best work in this field comes not from the perfection of the copy itself but her representation of the original in style, form and depth. And in the execution of that representation, she (too) is realising sensations - both hers plus also, and moreso, the originating artist.
The second was a mention of an album by Ludovico Einaudi, composer and pianist - a particular favourite of mine, and whose music inspires for me a whole range of experiences and evocations, on many neurological levels.
These two posts, read one after the other, sparked a chain of thought that led me to go onto YouTube and play a piece by Ludovico Einaudi set to a video someone had filmed in the Canary Isles of two sunsets. Now I have played this clip many times and am quite familiar with both the film and the music. However - THIS time I came to watch and listen with the quote by Paul Cezanne very much in my mental foreground.
Here is the address:-
The experience was transforming, and transcended all previous experiences of this particular clip.
You may need to play it several times - but I invite you to pay close attention to the following:-
* Allow your eyes to focus on the light source of the film (it is the setting sun)
* Allow your auditory attention to first follow the melody line, mostly played by the cello - and then next time follow the bass line, played by the piano.
* Finally allow the focus of your eyes to rest (converge) at an infinite point beyond the light source.
Notice your sensations as you do these actions. Notice how your experience changes, each time. And finally notice all the changes in your overall state.
PW
The first was a quote by the artist Paul Cezanne:-
"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations."
This reminded me of a recent conversation with my mother about her own method of painting when she sets out to paint a copy of a Great Master. Her best work in this field comes not from the perfection of the copy itself but her representation of the original in style, form and depth. And in the execution of that representation, she (too) is realising sensations - both hers plus also, and moreso, the originating artist.
The second was a mention of an album by Ludovico Einaudi, composer and pianist - a particular favourite of mine, and whose music inspires for me a whole range of experiences and evocations, on many neurological levels.
These two posts, read one after the other, sparked a chain of thought that led me to go onto YouTube and play a piece by Ludovico Einaudi set to a video someone had filmed in the Canary Isles of two sunsets. Now I have played this clip many times and am quite familiar with both the film and the music. However - THIS time I came to watch and listen with the quote by Paul Cezanne very much in my mental foreground.
Here is the address:-
The experience was transforming, and transcended all previous experiences of this particular clip.
You may need to play it several times - but I invite you to pay close attention to the following:-
* Allow your eyes to focus on the light source of the film (it is the setting sun)
* Allow your auditory attention to first follow the melody line, mostly played by the cello - and then next time follow the bass line, played by the piano.
* Finally allow the focus of your eyes to rest (converge) at an infinite point beyond the light source.
Notice your sensations as you do these actions. Notice how your experience changes, each time. And finally notice all the changes in your overall state.
PW
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