I arrived in California as a nine-year old, mid-summer, and to be accepted by the “boys in the neighborhood” I had to complete a task. The test was to walk the length of the six-foot-high wall surrounding a local grade school. The wall was about one city block long and the top surface was rounded. I mounted the wall and took a few steps. It looked like a simple job but the curve on the top surface was not consistent. I decided to focus all my attention on which way I would choose to fall if that were to occur. Success, and later I was informed that no one else ever completed that task first time up. Three months later I became the leader of the pack and the old leader my best friend.
What I learned is balance requires at least two forces. Out of directional forces: up/down; in/out; right/left, you also have time which all events endure. If these angles were all ninety-degrees we would have 7 variables (if you include time) and you would need focus of attention on them all to have perfect balance. But the angles could get complex and inconsistent so if you robbed some attention for breath, you would be very challenged. My grandmother advised me to always focus on one task at a time until completed. This was a rare occasion that I even recalled advice from her. It worked and I developed a new game plan moving forward.
I’m using personal examples in this series of writings because this is how I learned to process my life. Most of these examples were never part of my teaching curriculum due to the large differentiation in how we humans process life. If this is of interest to you, check out some data from NLP. I would recommend Mindworks by Anne Linden. This protocol covers a large chunk but there are even more variables with us humans.
When I focused my attention for balance with one directional influence and still maintained awareness of all the others, my confidence secured a range of movement that opened before me. I practiced, without witnesses, many times during that summer on the wall to find that magical feeling again from that first endeavor. I got really good at falling before I came to realize that I had to get ego out of the formula. My second lesson was to always be in “present time.” Success was my attention that first time and repetition allows all potential to influence; both alternate successes and all possible failures. It is really difficult to hold success as a pattern in redundance because of its inbred preference for storing all threats.
I developed over time a craving for first-time experiences. My friend thought of me as a risk taker but seldom did I make a habit of my one-time adventures. For an extreme example, two friends and I went to a burger joint for dinner one evening in our teens. We had to park a block away because their parking lot was full. The food was just OK and we were walking back to the car when a group from a local gang stepped out in front of us. They asked what we were doing in their territory. I spoke and said we just came to meet them on friendly terms. One of the gang members pulled out a gun and killed my two friends. Then he looked at me and said “now you know what it takes.” I walked home that evening never to return to that neighborhood. No value in making a police report with only me as a witness and five of the local gang with whatever story they produced. Lots of force but I again found a “one-time” balance to survive.
Chriss
