Happy Spring, everyone! Israel is starting to bloom and there is a particularly fragrant tree outside of my apartment. It makes a welcome change from the usual smells of Tel Aviv.
Improvisation is the theme of today's post, I hope that you enjoy it!
Last week, my improvisation class had our final showcase performance to mark the end of our two months of working together. I had so much fun and was sad to see the end of the workshop. But yesterday, I was able to attend another workshop given by a visiting improv-er from Belgium, which was 3-hours of "intense fun."
One of the goals of the workshop was to quiet our inner-dialogues of self-criticism and to trust and follow our physical impulses. One of our first exercises was to walk around the room and every time that we met somebody, we had to look them in the eye and say, "Everything that you do today is good and I trust you 100%" (then they would answer you with the same thing). At first, it felt awkward and forced, but by the end of the exercise, I actually believed what I was saying to people, and vice versa.
We always talk about "yes, and..." in improv, which is the concept of accepting and building off of whatever your improv partner has offered you. By agreeing with whatever word, idea, movement or object your partner has offered, then you are able to continue and build on your scene. Without "yes, and...," you might block a scene from building and make it difficult for your collaborator(s) to understand what is happening in the scene.
Our teacher Uri always reminds us that "yes, and..." can just as easily apply in our daily lives. I have begun to realize that it's not just saying "yes, and..." to those around you, but also saying "yes, and..." to yourself.
Yesterday, I started this month's "Warrior Program" with my friends at Ekhart Yoga. The class was a "circle of Warriors," so we were moving around the mat nearly constantly. As I was resting in a Child Pose, I started to feel pains in my back and my mind started racing with thoughts again: "What if I tire myself out too much with this Warrior class and I don't have energy for the improv workshop? What if I don't pack enough food and I get a headache and dehydrated and get sick? What if I don't know anybody there? What if I can't "perform" as well with new people as I did with my improv class? What if I can't think of anything to say when it's my turn to speak?"
I started to think, "You're being silly, everything is going to be fine," and then I realized that it was my old friend fear speaking these thoughts. I realized that if I just dismissed the thoughts that it wasn't actually dealing with the fear. So I said to myself, "You're right, it is scary. We don't know what's going to happen, and we won't find out unless we go to the workshop." I "yes, and"-ed myself.
My yoga instructors often say that if we are able to truly
relax and accept so-called "negative" emotions, then
we can come out "on the other side of them." For instance, we can come into strength from vulnerability.
Yesterday, for the first time, I felt that I really experienced
this.When I was there experiencing fear, I had so many
possibilities of what to do next. I might have stopped my yoga practice because I was afraid of becoming too tired, or I might not have gone to the improv workshop at all and chosen to stay at home where it was safe and warm and where there was food. Or I might have forced myself to go on to the workshop despite my fears and then "choked up" later when the pressure of performing arose.
After I had acknowledged my fears, I was able to finish the yoga class despite its challenges. I followed up with some more Grinberg exercises to ground my legs, went to the workshop, had a fabulous time, volunteered and participated in the performance afterwards, went out after the show with mostly strangers, and walked 2 miles home with energy to spare. If that's not a true expression of a warrior, then I don't know what is!
Because our workshop yesterday was so focused on not judging what we or others were saying or doing (or thinking), I worried less about what was "right or wrong" and trusted myself more. I spent a lot of time focusing on keeping my legs grounded and my arms relaxed and wouldn't you know it? They knew how to move all by themselves! When I needed to speak, words and sounds came out.
Last night was especially fun because I quite literally got to see how my life might have panned out in a parallel universe. The "professional" improv-ers did a show called "Matchmakers." The show revolves around two protagonists whose characters are based on details drawn from audience members' lives. In this case, another woman and I volunteered and gave them basic information of what we do, what we wanted to do when we were younger, and one positive and one negative quality of ourselves. It was interesting to see my character finding her path towards being a singer despite having many different ambitions and interests. And it was also hilarious to see my character played by Uri.
At the end of the show, the "professionals" invited all of the workshop participants to join in two final games, so we went up for a round of Freeze Tag and "Sex with me is like..." It was really exciting to be "performing," and I felt completely supported by those around me. I also felt that everyone else was another expression of me, had I made different choices. I saw myself as I used to be, timid and wanting to join in but
not knowing how, and I saw myself as I want to be, spontaneous and
completely committed to my words and actions.
I also saw that not everybody needed to be involved with every scene and that it was perfectly fine to just stand back and enjoy the show once in a while.
Well, that is all from me! I hope Spring is making its way into your particular corner of the world.
Love and peace,
Daniella
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Living WITH fear, not IN fear
Recently, my friend and Alexander Technique teacher, Jennifer Roig-Francol
In answer to Jennifer's question, yes, perfectionism has greatly impaired my musical expression. More precisely, it has been a fear of not being perfect that has blocked me from being able to express myself. n pain or in fear and that the effect is more expressive, more genuine singing.
Yesterday, I sang an audition for a place in a Yom haZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) presentation. My voice cracked, a few notes wobbled, I made up some words, but the world continued to turn. And I have been asked to sing in the final presentation.
Well, that's all from me for today. I hope that you enjoyed this post!
Happy Afikomen and egg hunting,
Daniella
-----
[Fantastic] People/Works Cited
1. Roig-Francolí, Jennifer. "Does Perfectionism Block the Emotions in Your Music?" The Art of Freedom. February 23, 2105. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://www.artoffreedom.me/does-perfectionism-block-the-emotions-in-your-music/
2. GrinbergMethodVideos. "Grinberg Method, To Be the Music with Ruth Elkana" (YouTube). September 19, 2013. Accessed March 30, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwtw-FUtDY
In answer to Jennifer's question, yes, perfectionism has greatly impaired my musical expression. More precisely, it has been a fear of not being perfect that has blocked me from being able to express myself. n pain or in fear and that the effect is more expressive, more genuine singing.
Yesterday, I sang an audition for a place in a Yom haZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) presentation. My voice cracked, a few notes wobbled, I made up some words, but the world continued to turn. And I have been asked to sing in the final presentation.
Well, that's all from me for today. I hope that you enjoyed this post!
Happy Afikomen and egg hunting,
Daniella
-----
[Fantastic] People/Works Cited
1. Roig-Francolí, Jennifer. "Does Perfectionism Block the Emotions in Your Music?" The Art of Freedom. February 23, 2105. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://www.artoffreedom.me/does-perfectionism-block-the-emotions-in-your-music/
2. GrinbergMethodVideos. "Grinberg Method, To Be the Music with Ruth Elkana" (YouTube). September 19, 2013. Accessed March 30, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwtw-FUtDY
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Part of Your World
Don't worry, I'm not going to break in to song. Nor am I going to dye my hair fire-engine red and sell my voice to a sea-witch. Instead I would like to share with you an interesting revelation that has been developing this past month.
Last month was a challenging one. The Year of the Horse seemed to want to exit with a bang and stirred up a whirlwind of obstacles for me. Not least of these was having a pretty nasty bike accident that prevented me from doing yoga for two weeks and effectively canceled my February plans of learning how to execute a handstand. Don't worry, nothing was broken (except for the bike), and I sustained some very colorful bruises and was confronted with my fear of falling head-on (not literally).
I also started private Grinberg sessions in February and they have been the catalyst for a major shift in the way that I think, act, and live.
After the first lesson, I realized that I find it difficult to trust myself and my body, which in turn makes it difficult for me to trust other people. The physical manifestation of this is that I try to hold my legs and arms up with unnecessary tension in my hips and shoulders, instead of trusting that my limbs will stay attached to me and to let gravity do its work. In my Grinberg classes, I have a hard time keeping my eyes closed because I don't trust that my body won't run into people or the walls or fall over. To date, I've only had one notable collision with somebody, and I've obviously lived to tell the tale. And now that I've survived falling off of a fast-moving bike, I think I can survive falling from a stationary standing position.
During the first session when my Grinberg instructor helped me to release built-up tension; suddenly there was so much energy flowing through my arms and hands that I felt like I was being electrocuted! My hands were buzzing so much, I was convinced that they must have been trembling like leaves in the wind. But when I looked at them, they were perfectly still. When I stood up and started walking, the ground seemed much closer than before because my legs had relaxed and lengthened.
The next few sessions were mainly devoted to releasing the trauma that my body sustained from the bike accident. But once my bruises and scrapes were on the mend, another pattern emerged, which was that I expect myself and others to be perfect. Obviously, this is impossible, but it has led to a great deal of frustration and disappointment in myself and in others (although I tend to be much more understanding about others' "failings" than in my own).
I realized that I have never been able to just look at the positive aspects of something that I've done without adding "but I didn't/I need to/I should have..." Lessons, recitals, papers, relationships...you name it, I've criticized it! This constant criticism of myself and of others makes it really difficult to accomplish anything, let alone get along with others.
For myself, I've decided to employ the phrase "[a,b,c,] went well today and tomorrow I will work on [x,y,z]."
You're probably familiar with the idea that when you see something that you don't like in somebody else it could be that it reminds you of something within yourself that you don't like. This is exactly the case with my quest for perfection. When I see other people behaving or speaking or thinking in a way that I don't like, it's usually because I don't like it when I behave/speak/think that way.
In my most recent Grinberg session, my teacher was pressing points on my face and my arms were tingling in response. I asked how tension in my face could cause energy blocks in my arms and my teacher replied that I wasn't seeing my whole body as me. That rather stopped me in my tracks. And then I realized that I fixate on the labels for these parts instead of understanding that my whole body is me.
This made me think of something else that Esther Ekhart sometimes talks about in her yoga teachings. In one particular video, at the end of the sequence when you are in the relaxation pose, Esther asks you to imagine that you are a Google Earth camera looking down from above. You see yourself lying on your yoga mat, the room around you, your apartment building or house, the streets outside, the people going by, and it just keeps zooming farther and farther out.
She asks, "What is you? Where do you begin and end?"
I think one answer is that we don't end.
Every person, every circumstance, every thing that exists in our lives is an extension of ourselves and creates our world - We are each a star at the center of our mini-universe. When I find it hard to accept somebody with "less-than-perfect" tendencies it is because they are an extension of my own "less-than-perfect" tendencies.
So I have decided to be kinder to myself and to see where improvements can be made without punishing myself for not being perfect. And since we are all part of each other's mini-universes, I will affect all of the lives around me by changing my own life and how I behave/speak/think.
I hope that this post was coherent and interesting to you. I would love to hear what you think.
Love and peace,
Daniella
Last month was a challenging one. The Year of the Horse seemed to want to exit with a bang and stirred up a whirlwind of obstacles for me. Not least of these was having a pretty nasty bike accident that prevented me from doing yoga for two weeks and effectively canceled my February plans of learning how to execute a handstand. Don't worry, nothing was broken (except for the bike), and I sustained some very colorful bruises and was confronted with my fear of falling head-on (not literally).
I also started private Grinberg sessions in February and they have been the catalyst for a major shift in the way that I think, act, and live.
After the first lesson, I realized that I find it difficult to trust myself and my body, which in turn makes it difficult for me to trust other people. The physical manifestation of this is that I try to hold my legs and arms up with unnecessary tension in my hips and shoulders, instead of trusting that my limbs will stay attached to me and to let gravity do its work. In my Grinberg classes, I have a hard time keeping my eyes closed because I don't trust that my body won't run into people or the walls or fall over. To date, I've only had one notable collision with somebody, and I've obviously lived to tell the tale. And now that I've survived falling off of a fast-moving bike, I think I can survive falling from a stationary standing position.
During the first session when my Grinberg instructor helped me to release built-up tension; suddenly there was so much energy flowing through my arms and hands that I felt like I was being electrocuted! My hands were buzzing so much, I was convinced that they must have been trembling like leaves in the wind. But when I looked at them, they were perfectly still. When I stood up and started walking, the ground seemed much closer than before because my legs had relaxed and lengthened.
The next few sessions were mainly devoted to releasing the trauma that my body sustained from the bike accident. But once my bruises and scrapes were on the mend, another pattern emerged, which was that I expect myself and others to be perfect. Obviously, this is impossible, but it has led to a great deal of frustration and disappointment in myself and in others (although I tend to be much more understanding about others' "failings" than in my own).
I realized that I have never been able to just look at the positive aspects of something that I've done without adding "but I didn't/I need to/I should have..." Lessons, recitals, papers, relationships...you name it, I've criticized it! This constant criticism of myself and of others makes it really difficult to accomplish anything, let alone get along with others.
For myself, I've decided to employ the phrase "[a,b,c,] went well today and tomorrow I will work on [x,y,z]."
You're probably familiar with the idea that when you see something that you don't like in somebody else it could be that it reminds you of something within yourself that you don't like. This is exactly the case with my quest for perfection. When I see other people behaving or speaking or thinking in a way that I don't like, it's usually because I don't like it when I behave/speak/think that way.
In my most recent Grinberg session, my teacher was pressing points on my face and my arms were tingling in response. I asked how tension in my face could cause energy blocks in my arms and my teacher replied that I wasn't seeing my whole body as me. That rather stopped me in my tracks. And then I realized that I fixate on the labels for these parts instead of understanding that my whole body is me.
This made me think of something else that Esther Ekhart sometimes talks about in her yoga teachings. In one particular video, at the end of the sequence when you are in the relaxation pose, Esther asks you to imagine that you are a Google Earth camera looking down from above. You see yourself lying on your yoga mat, the room around you, your apartment building or house, the streets outside, the people going by, and it just keeps zooming farther and farther out.
She asks, "What is you? Where do you begin and end?"
I think one answer is that we don't end.
Every person, every circumstance, every thing that exists in our lives is an extension of ourselves and creates our world - We are each a star at the center of our mini-universe. When I find it hard to accept somebody with "less-than-perfect" tendencies it is because they are an extension of my own "less-than-perfect" tendencies.
So I have decided to be kinder to myself and to see where improvements can be made without punishing myself for not being perfect. And since we are all part of each other's mini-universes, I will affect all of the lives around me by changing my own life and how I behave/speak/think.
I hope that this post was coherent and interesting to you. I would love to hear what you think.
Love and peace,
Daniella
Saturday, January 31, 2015
January Greetings!
Hello, all!
It seems fitting to be writing another post on the last day of January. I returned to Israel at the beginning of the month and time has flown by ever since! The Year of the Horse seems to want to finish with a bang; it is bringing its fair share of challenges. I found a new apartment a few days after returning, but that still left me with the task of finding a replacement roommate for my old apartment. It is still a work in progress, but I am hopeful.
In other news, I resumed my voice lessons and have embarked on a new journey with Poulenc. I found a set that he wrote to Garcia-Lorca's poems. I've always been drawn to his work, so it seemed like a natural progression. However, with Tamar's guidance, I'm discovering that most pieces I encounter are more comfortable taken down a 1/2-step, so I am becoming a master of Sibelius as well. For non-music nerds, Sibelius is the computer program for composing that makes transcription/transposition by hand a distant memory.
I am also nearly completed with a January's "Willpower Workout," courtesy of our friends at EkhartYoga.com. As I've learned with Esther Ekhart, willpower is a muscle - if you don't use it, you lose it! I have mostly succeeded in following the workout plan and have had quite a few breakthroughs in the process! For instance, yesterday I learned that your core actually extends down through your thighs/upper legs! All this time, I though it was only the core abdominal muscles - it surely makes a difference in every day life.
Today I did a lovely Yin Yoga sequence meant to reconnect to my vital energy. Esther was explaining that in order to connect with one's vital energy, one must make space for all of the sensations/emotions that exist within us: "let it be." As she was saying it, I heard piano music coming from one of my neighbors. I realized that I knew the song - it was "Lu Yehi," the Hebrew version of "Let It Be." I had to smile as I recognized the message the universe was sending to me.
So my quest for health continues! I am currently looking for work - a part-time job to help get me out of my shell and into the world. I realized that I've been using my vocal training and my financial situation as an excuse to turn into a hermit! I guess this is a common tendency for musicians and artists in general; we become so embroiled in our work that we forget that there is an outside world! I am about to go explore mine with a lovely walk through the park. After our 2 months of winter (AKA 3 weeks of rain), we are having consistently warmer and sunnier weather.
I hope that you are well.
Much love,
Daniella
It seems fitting to be writing another post on the last day of January. I returned to Israel at the beginning of the month and time has flown by ever since! The Year of the Horse seems to want to finish with a bang; it is bringing its fair share of challenges. I found a new apartment a few days after returning, but that still left me with the task of finding a replacement roommate for my old apartment. It is still a work in progress, but I am hopeful.
In other news, I resumed my voice lessons and have embarked on a new journey with Poulenc. I found a set that he wrote to Garcia-Lorca's poems. I've always been drawn to his work, so it seemed like a natural progression. However, with Tamar's guidance, I'm discovering that most pieces I encounter are more comfortable taken down a 1/2-step, so I am becoming a master of Sibelius as well. For non-music nerds, Sibelius is the computer program for composing that makes transcription/transposition by hand a distant memory.
I am also nearly completed with a January's "Willpower Workout," courtesy of our friends at EkhartYoga.com. As I've learned with Esther Ekhart, willpower is a muscle - if you don't use it, you lose it! I have mostly succeeded in following the workout plan and have had quite a few breakthroughs in the process! For instance, yesterday I learned that your core actually extends down through your thighs/upper legs! All this time, I though it was only the core abdominal muscles - it surely makes a difference in every day life.
Today I did a lovely Yin Yoga sequence meant to reconnect to my vital energy. Esther was explaining that in order to connect with one's vital energy, one must make space for all of the sensations/emotions that exist within us: "let it be." As she was saying it, I heard piano music coming from one of my neighbors. I realized that I knew the song - it was "Lu Yehi," the Hebrew version of "Let It Be." I had to smile as I recognized the message the universe was sending to me.
So my quest for health continues! I am currently looking for work - a part-time job to help get me out of my shell and into the world. I realized that I've been using my vocal training and my financial situation as an excuse to turn into a hermit! I guess this is a common tendency for musicians and artists in general; we become so embroiled in our work that we forget that there is an outside world! I am about to go explore mine with a lovely walk through the park. After our 2 months of winter (AKA 3 weeks of rain), we are having consistently warmer and sunnier weather.
I hope that you are well.
Much love,
Daniella
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Happy 2015!
Hello, all!
Wishing you a wondrous and fulfilling 2015!
I
have been home in the [very] frozen Northwoods since Hanukkah, thereby
reaping all the benefits of 3 holidays in one visit!
The temperatures
have been below 0 degrees (last night, it went down to -16 F/-26 C), but
that didn't stop us from taking a walk on (yes, ON) the lake yesterday
and making snow angels.
The view on the [frozen] lake
My first snow angel in years!
Our cat, Hugo, has been ecstatic with all the extra attention since both my sister and I have been home for three weeks.
He is enjoying his new plant-filled jungle room here in Wisconsin.
We have had a steady stream of snow since I arrived, so I am getting my fill of wintry weather.
I have enjoyed having some peace and quiet here in the Northwoods, but am looking forward to getting back to business when I return to the Motherland next week.
I hope that your year is off to a beautiful start!
Much love and peace,
Daniella
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Grinberg Addict, Alexander Junkie, Yoga Fancier, and Other Tales of Self-Awareness
Ciao, tutti! Happy Autumn! (Or possibly Happy Spring, depending on your hemisphere.)
Just a brief note to update you on the goings on in my life.
I recently subscribed to an excellent yoga website, where I stumbled upon a set of videos called "12 Days of Awareness" by Taetske Kleijn. She takes you through a series of exercises which help to bring you into full awareness of each moment. The point is to help you realize that the only time that exists is right now. To quote Taetske, even if you are speaking about an event from the past, you are not really describing that past event itself, but rather, your memory of it. And your memory of that past event exists right now.
After I heard that piece of information, my brain just about exploded. I realized how much baggage and burdens from the past I was carrying around with me and how they were impinging and infringing on my ability to live fully and freely in the moment.
I also realized how much we deaden our senses, especially when it seems that we are overly stimulated through our sense of sight. In this fast-spaced, plugged in world, sometimes it seems like the only senses that we use are our sense of sight and possibly the sense of touch as we swipe through our mobile and computer screens.
During another day of meditation, I began to realize how not just our fingers and hands, but indeed our entire skin is capable of the sense of touch. How often do we go through the day not even aware of the feel of our clothes on our skin or the wind on our face? How much do we make our poor eyes do without even giving a chance to the other many senses that we have?
So the 12 Days of Awareness have made a big impact in my life. I made a conscious decision to just do one thing at a time, whether it be reading an email, eating a piece of fruit, or talking to somebody. This has really helped to quieten the constant chatter of inner voices, and has been especially useful in my singing.
After I returned from Germany, my teacher gave me an enormous list of music to learn and we began to prepare three separate recitals'-worth of music.With my new focus, I have been able to learn music so much quicker than before, especially because I am not having to stop every few seconds to berate myself with what the inner voices are saying. They simply don't have time or a place to make themselves heard.
Thus continues my journey of self-awareness. I am always intrigued how all of these different methods and techniques that I've found (Alexander, Grinberg, Yoga, Feldenkrais) seem to dance around each other, yet they are all leading us in the same direction: freedom to choose how we live, right here, right now.
That being said, I wish all of my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!
And to everyone else, stay warm, dry, and well!
Much love,
Daniella
Just a brief note to update you on the goings on in my life.
I recently subscribed to an excellent yoga website, where I stumbled upon a set of videos called "12 Days of Awareness" by Taetske Kleijn. She takes you through a series of exercises which help to bring you into full awareness of each moment. The point is to help you realize that the only time that exists is right now. To quote Taetske, even if you are speaking about an event from the past, you are not really describing that past event itself, but rather, your memory of it. And your memory of that past event exists right now.
After I heard that piece of information, my brain just about exploded. I realized how much baggage and burdens from the past I was carrying around with me and how they were impinging and infringing on my ability to live fully and freely in the moment.
I also realized how much we deaden our senses, especially when it seems that we are overly stimulated through our sense of sight. In this fast-spaced, plugged in world, sometimes it seems like the only senses that we use are our sense of sight and possibly the sense of touch as we swipe through our mobile and computer screens.
During another day of meditation, I began to realize how not just our fingers and hands, but indeed our entire skin is capable of the sense of touch. How often do we go through the day not even aware of the feel of our clothes on our skin or the wind on our face? How much do we make our poor eyes do without even giving a chance to the other many senses that we have?
So the 12 Days of Awareness have made a big impact in my life. I made a conscious decision to just do one thing at a time, whether it be reading an email, eating a piece of fruit, or talking to somebody. This has really helped to quieten the constant chatter of inner voices, and has been especially useful in my singing.
After I returned from Germany, my teacher gave me an enormous list of music to learn and we began to prepare three separate recitals'-worth of music.With my new focus, I have been able to learn music so much quicker than before, especially because I am not having to stop every few seconds to berate myself with what the inner voices are saying. They simply don't have time or a place to make themselves heard.
Thus continues my journey of self-awareness. I am always intrigued how all of these different methods and techniques that I've found (Alexander, Grinberg, Yoga, Feldenkrais) seem to dance around each other, yet they are all leading us in the same direction: freedom to choose how we live, right here, right now.
That being said, I wish all of my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!
And to everyone else, stay warm, dry, and well!
Much love,
Daniella
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Happy Holidays! (AKA "nothing gets done in Septober")
Ciao, tutti!
Since returning to the Motherland, I seem to be experiencing an endless holiday: first, the new year, then Yom Kippur, and now we've just had a week of Sukkot. We actually get 3 days off for Sukkot: 1.5 days to mark the beginning and the end. Of course, the unending days of holiday don't exclude us from Shabbat, so it seems like we've had 3-day weeks for a month. Not that I'm complaining - I enjoy every peaceful moment that I can get in our normally bustling city.
Yom Kippur was really special because in Tel Aviv, it means that everyone celebrates the absence of cars by biking/walking/skating on the streets and highways. Zoya and I took a midnight walk in the street to mark the occasion. We could have walked on the sidewalk, of course, but what's the fun in that? Now we've reached Sukkot, which I really can't tell you very much about except that it is some sort of harvest holiday that is also about welcoming guests. And probably has something to do with the destruction of the Second Temple, like many holidays.
For me, all of these extra days off have meant more time for thinking.
I've been thinking about how often I encounter negative words like "war," "attack," "fight," and "anti-" in my daily life. They seem to have become as common in our vocabulary as "Facebook" and "Google." But I wonder at the intent behind these words. Sure, "stopping the war on wolves" may seem like a noble cause, but who is at war with the wolves? Are there armies of rival wolves battling in the wilderness? How does lack of adequate protection for wolves' survival constitute a "war on wolves?"
The problem with using these words is that it only makes people afraid. This triggers a "fight or flight" mode which bypasses our brains and reaches straight for our holsters: "We may not even know if there is a real threat from our invisible enemies (ahem, Ebola), but by golly, we're going to beat them!"
But the bigger problem that I see is that when we label something as war, we are engaging in a war. Even if we believe that we are on "the right side," we have become part of a war. And as we have countless examples, wars do not bring peace, just temporary non-wars.
Why not simply ask for support towards solutions instead of instilling fear and outrage in people?
I recently watched an excellent talk by Chimamanda Adichie about the problems of only considering one side of a story. I won't go into too much detail because she tells it much better herself: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story. Adichie stresses the importance of seeking out other and as many points of view as we can to get the bigger picture.
Adichie's talk made me think of all of my special interest groups, pitting themselves against "big, bad [oil/government/other-special-interests-groups-who-we-don't-agree-with]." Nobody is really interested in reaching a symbiotic solution, they just want to make sure that they come out ahead. After all, they're on the "right side." But this just provides a catalyst for future conflict, it doesn't actually result in a sustainable solution. What would actually be sustainable would be compassion, communication, and the desire to understand the needs and wishes of one another.
All living beings want the same things: a safe home to raise their families, food and water, and a healthy life. A mosquito knows its purpose from the time it is born and it does all it can to accomplish that in its brief 24 hours of life. We are given infinitely more time than mosquitoes, yet we let ourselves become involved in so much that goes against those basic needs and desires.
How much more constructive would "peace talks" be if they actually tried to understand all of the people involved?
How much more support would we have for protecting and preserving our planet and our children's future if we had constructive dialogues between corporations and environmental protection groups?
What if we stopped using fear-mongering words and instead chose words that actually described what we supported?
Well, I shall get off of my soapbox. I hope that this short novel has given you some intriguing food for thought.
In other news, we had our first thunderstorm of the season today, officially marking the coming of cooler weather! I hope that you are having a lovely October, wherever you are.
Un gran abbracio,
Daniella
Since returning to the Motherland, I seem to be experiencing an endless holiday: first, the new year, then Yom Kippur, and now we've just had a week of Sukkot. We actually get 3 days off for Sukkot: 1.5 days to mark the beginning and the end. Of course, the unending days of holiday don't exclude us from Shabbat, so it seems like we've had 3-day weeks for a month. Not that I'm complaining - I enjoy every peaceful moment that I can get in our normally bustling city.
Yom Kippur was really special because in Tel Aviv, it means that everyone celebrates the absence of cars by biking/walking/skating on the streets and highways. Zoya and I took a midnight walk in the street to mark the occasion. We could have walked on the sidewalk, of course, but what's the fun in that? Now we've reached Sukkot, which I really can't tell you very much about except that it is some sort of harvest holiday that is also about welcoming guests. And probably has something to do with the destruction of the Second Temple, like many holidays.
For me, all of these extra days off have meant more time for thinking.
I've been thinking about how often I encounter negative words like "war," "attack," "fight," and "anti-" in my daily life. They seem to have become as common in our vocabulary as "Facebook" and "Google." But I wonder at the intent behind these words. Sure, "stopping the war on wolves" may seem like a noble cause, but who is at war with the wolves? Are there armies of rival wolves battling in the wilderness? How does lack of adequate protection for wolves' survival constitute a "war on wolves?"
The problem with using these words is that it only makes people afraid. This triggers a "fight or flight" mode which bypasses our brains and reaches straight for our holsters: "We may not even know if there is a real threat from our invisible enemies (ahem, Ebola), but by golly, we're going to beat them!"
But the bigger problem that I see is that when we label something as war, we are engaging in a war. Even if we believe that we are on "the right side," we have become part of a war. And as we have countless examples, wars do not bring peace, just temporary non-wars.
Why not simply ask for support towards solutions instead of instilling fear and outrage in people?
I recently watched an excellent talk by Chimamanda Adichie about the problems of only considering one side of a story. I won't go into too much detail because she tells it much better herself: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story. Adichie stresses the importance of seeking out other and as many points of view as we can to get the bigger picture.
Adichie's talk made me think of all of my special interest groups, pitting themselves against "big, bad [oil/government/other-special-interests-groups-who-we-don't-agree-with]." Nobody is really interested in reaching a symbiotic solution, they just want to make sure that they come out ahead. After all, they're on the "right side." But this just provides a catalyst for future conflict, it doesn't actually result in a sustainable solution. What would actually be sustainable would be compassion, communication, and the desire to understand the needs and wishes of one another.
All living beings want the same things: a safe home to raise their families, food and water, and a healthy life. A mosquito knows its purpose from the time it is born and it does all it can to accomplish that in its brief 24 hours of life. We are given infinitely more time than mosquitoes, yet we let ourselves become involved in so much that goes against those basic needs and desires.
How much more constructive would "peace talks" be if they actually tried to understand all of the people involved?
How much more support would we have for protecting and preserving our planet and our children's future if we had constructive dialogues between corporations and environmental protection groups?
What if we stopped using fear-mongering words and instead chose words that actually described what we supported?
Well, I shall get off of my soapbox. I hope that this short novel has given you some intriguing food for thought.
In other news, we had our first thunderstorm of the season today, officially marking the coming of cooler weather! I hope that you are having a lovely October, wherever you are.
Un gran abbracio,
Daniella
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