Rhythm
Growing up, I remember young girls playing “Double Dutch” in the school yard during recess. Double Dutch requires 2 ropes and 3 people – 2 to turn the ropes in opposite arcs and 1 person to jump. It is not an easy rhythm to grasp right off the bat. Inner city girls made it an art form, and in my opinion it should be an Olympic Sport.
The rope turners set the rhythm and you have to sense their timing before successfully jumping to their beat. I was never successful at Double Dutch. I tried awfully hard but always managed to get tangled up in the ropes. I rationalized my lack of rhythm by telling myself that it was only for girls.
How many times have we told ourselves in life that something is just for other people – not us?
We rationalize it away because we fail to recognize the rhythm.
Life has a rhythm. Success has a rhythm. Failure has a rhythm. Did you ever notice that your head never figures out the rhythm – your body does? Your head can certainly ask the question but the answer has to come from your body.
Joining the rhythm of life begins by first noticing that there is a rhythm. Look at people who have what you want. They are operating at a certain rhythm and that rhythm is matching up with the rhythm of the life force which is coming through their body. They are acting on information you don’t have access to as long as you remain stuck in your head. Reminds me of a story . . .
I knew this kid named Bobby growing up. Bobby was a boxing aficionado. He read all the magazines, knew all the statistics of all the major fighters and, in short, was a walking encyclopedia on boxing history and techniques. He never boxed but he talked a good game. One day at the YMCA, we checked out boxing gloves from the equipment room. Bobby was showing us all the stances, arm and hand positions he learned about in his readings. My other friend Jimmy was warming up by shadow boxing in the mirror while Bobby was holding court with his instructions. We all paired off with a partner. Jimmy and Bobby were partners. Within 10 seconds, I witnessed my first, in person knockout. Bobby was flat on his back on the floor with cartoon birds circling his head. Bobby didn’t have the rhythm of boxing, only the information.
Life has a rhythm and the way to find it is to have your body join the dance. We spend so much time in our heads and spend so little time noticing our body. The body is always here and now – the head is mostly there and then. Immerse your body in the next conversation you have with someone. While conversing, keep some attention on your body and notice that it is picking up on the rhythm of the conversation. The chat is more than words. It’s a dance going on between two people. Your body will sense when the rhythm changes and send you the appropriate words to accommodate that shift in rhythm.
Planning is an admirable skill and it is useless once the dance begins. This is the time to trust and know that your body will figure it out. You just have to start paying attention to the rhythms coming through your body. This flies in the face of most academic learning because academia only recognizes the head. They never teach you to feel the rhythm of the information. And where do you feel everything? Only in your body – never in your head.
Your body is a shortcut to learning and accomplishing.
Just take a moment today to notice the rhythm of your body. After a little practice, your body will begin equating certain rhythms with certain strategies and send your intellect a message. For lack of a better name, this message from the body is intuition. You will begin to notice that you are noticing more and taking different actions. All the information has always been there but it never got hooked up with the rhythm of life.
The rhythm of life is flowing through your body right now. Take time to notice it and you’ll spend less time on the canvas.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
Be Sociable, Share!
