“Eliminate everything that is not light!”
– Plotinus, quoted in, Plotinus or the Simplicity of Vision by Pierre Hadot
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“I continually use my experience of being present during a child’s first steps as an example of positive feedback… When the adults realised what was happening, they all sat in a circle. The young performer teetered and wobbled from the outstretched arms of one adult to another Ooo’s, ahs, smiles, cheers and hand claps all around the circle. There was a huge, beaming smile on the child’s face. Not a single adult thought of saying, ‘That was lovely (insert your own name), now if you could just hold your back a little straighter and lift your knees higher, you will walk even better the next time’. Why not? The child certainly was not walking well. Yet we, the adults, knew that the child would continue to develop the skills of walking, running, skipping, hopping and other forms of exciting locomotion. It is important that student improvisers return to this atmosphere of playful exploration they had as young children, the time in life when our impulsive behaviour is at its peak.”
– Al Wunder, The Wonder of Improvisation
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A mantra: Keep the feedback positive.
Most important is what I direct toward myself.
Notice what I am doing well.
Improvements will be made through practice.
I do not need to bombard myself with negativity.
Look for the light. Head toward it!
Keep reading.
Keep writing.
Create space for reflection.
Whatever it is I am doing here, it is positive.
Because I am doing.
These baby steps are faltering, but they will continue.
I will only grow stronger through practice.
I pick myself off of the floor.
I fix my sights on the horizon.
I keep moving.
Conversations With Quotations 