Lifework: the Work Continues

In this article written by Viviana Guadalupi, Wiebe Moeys tells us the goals of these months of work together:

• Knowing how to solve a problem in any given situation.
• Succeeding in not losing oneself in heavy and unproductive thoughts, but knowing how to overcome them through REASONING.
• Succeeding in our profession even in the most unexpected situations.

These are our primary goals of our research in the next months. This endeavor starts from within and has the objective to develop a strategy that can help us to be logical and coherent even in situations that are unexpected in our work and outside. There are a few fundamental elements that help develop these attitudes:

• Assuming as our starting point the circumstances we find ourselves in;
• Utilizing, as stimuli, the interactions with the people who surround us, the speed of action, the voice and the music all of which we can use in ways to increase our perception ability;
• The COURAGE to take new unknown paths in our lives.

Starting off from the "circumstances" means to always start from what is available to us in the very moment that we have to act. One should never act on the basis of how one would like the situation to be, but on the basis of the real situation. For this reason we cannot allow ourselves to be caught up in our thoughts and fantasies. They are not in the real time dimension; they can easily be dismissed because they are part of an individual's emotional sphere. We reflect when we "pull the plug", when we are alone and we pull the plug. This signifies shutting off reality.
In second place reflecting also means trying something, and to assume that our actions are a tentative, is like allowing the thought that we might not succeed in attaining what we are working towards. It is un-motivating and strongly suggesting failure. Knowing how to communicate and nurture our strong and real motivation is the first step in the direction that we are talking about. The best motivation for anyone is the knowledge that one is useful and very productive. In doing are own job there is hardly anytime for idle thoughts. One would lose grip with the practical aspect of our job on the basis of which we are judged, because our work is the element which presents us and represents us.
With all of this we don't believe that one shouldn't elaborate and internalize what we carry out with our work. We only believe that one should do it with a plan of operations. We speak of Reasoning (not of reflection) that pertains to a dynamic sphere, which continually gathers stimuli from outside - an attitude of openness- and this protects us from the risk of getting stuck on ourselves. By reasoning one is already in movement, it's already a step in trying, attempting something, experimenting with something. It's succeeding in "seeing in time" the evolution of a moment. It is always a moment of clarity.
We risk to be caught by the temptation of drifting in our own reflections when we find ourselves in a time of difficulty. Instead, it is exactly in moments of difficulty that we need a plan of operations the most. Don't stop and think but WORK more than ever. By doing this we give ourselves an effective chance to overcome difficulty, to understand what our limits were, once we have already overcome them, that is when it can no longer harm or hurt us. In this way, what was once a point of weakness a moment ago, would become without a doubt a starting point and even an element to strengthen ourselves, because we would immediately experience the positive outcome of our work.
For example, listening to critiques we receive regarding our work only become constructive if we work on them immediately. This means listening actively and avoiding the risk hearing them in a passive way.
To define this concept we must underline that when we stimulate a circumstance our memories resurface. In other words, when we are able to stir a situation in the present, in means that we have unconsciously brought out a memory of our past and we can use it consciously to elaborate it healthily. We are able to foresee a future outcome and are able to take control of new situations because we know beforehand what will happen.

The temptation to be captured by one's reflections can only be avoided if we give room for our instincts to respond rather than to thought out and constructed reactions. Instinctive reactions are always the most logical. Reacting with our instincts means that we haven't had the time to reflect on the need to adapt our attitudes and thoughts to cultural and social conditioning imposed upon us. This conditioning diverts and upsets the natural prevalent side (left brain or right brain) that each one of us has. For instance, cultural assumptions that just because are so spread throughout a society, and for a such long time, gain authority, become unquestioned assumptions that effect the natural prevalence of one side of our brain diverting it. These are simple data, but extremely revealing. In most countries one drives the car in the right lane: a left handed person has to adjust without much fuss; the placement of the strings on a guitar is meant for a right handed person, not to mention the guitar classes: a left handed person either invert the order of the strings and holds the guitar with the other hand or has to make an unbelievable effort to play. Even some knives are serrated only on one side of the blade which is the one used by right handed people. In some cases, all these elements together may become the cause for the unnatural development of one side oft the brain. In acting with speed the more logical side emerges, and we use it to follow the path most consistent with our natural inclination.
Other than speed, another tool we have at hand to stimulate instinctive responses is the people surrounding us, who we live with or interact with on many levels, whether they are on our wave length or are our opponents. If we are able to "see him or her in time" our opponent can only be of great value to us to abandon our rigid mental attitudes, and to learn how to handle and respond appropriately to sudden and unexpected situations, so not to risk falling in the trap of our routine and habitual ways. Continually accepting confrontation with others, meaning our opponents and not our accomplices, accepting their interference in ones personal and professional dimensions, means being open to breaking routines continuously and to always know how to recreate a new balance. By this we mean a dynamic equilibrium in perpetual evolution, very different from a static equilibrium, which ends up letting a person sit on his hands, his achievements and abilities without giving himself or herself the opportunity to push his or her limits. The capacity of being empathetic is an obvious sign of being open. The people who surround us, when "used" as a push coming from outside of ourselves and our small personal space, contribute not only to help us conquer an equilibrium in our daily lives, as we have said, but also and mainly an internal equilibrium, built on our certainties, and tangible and concrete considerations.

We conclude with the inclination toward experimentation, not as an extreme value. The courage that is necessary to endeavor (and just to try) in new directions, does not arrive unexpectedly and suddenly. It is a strength that one acquires through experience, with the firm awareness based on one's work-profession. It has to be faced with enthusiasm. If this professional soundness were missing one would fall into a euphoric state, hard to handle and caused by an approach to one's work that is not consistent with the notion of dealing with the "present circumstance".
At this point we take the opportunity to restate that we do not intend to dictate a set of rules to follow in order to reach a set goal. It would be in contradiction with our belief in the importance of experiencing. We are practicing! Specially since pointing at only one path/direction causes great temptation to stray, probably rightfully so.

Wiebe Moeys (contents)
Viviana Guadalupi (writer)

LIFEWORK CENTER c/o STUDIO DANZA ISPRA
Via E. Fermi 615 - 21027 Ispra (Varese) - Italy

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