Life is full of random, unexpected events and demands. It is vital that we gain awareness and understanding of our reactions to these intrusions in order to cultivate an ability to remain calm and collected when they arise. To maximize our ability to develop and draw on our knowledge base, we should not brace against disruptions and the emotions they stir, but rather adopt a nonresistant attitude. This allows us to absorb information, process it smoothly and quickly, take appropriate action, and grow from the experience; we become resilient in the way a flexible blade of grass can bend and sustain most any kind of assault. With a stiffened and strained approach to upheaval, however large or small, we cannot sustain focus and call on our full wisdom; we become brittle and lose our ability to clear the hurdles, like a dry stick snapping under pressure.
In Josh’s Words:
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“The nature of your state of concentration will determine the first phase of your reaction- if you are tense, with your fingers jammed in your ears and your whole body straining to fight off distraction, then you are in a Hard Zone that demands a cooperative world for you to function. Like a dry twig, you are brittle, ready to snap under pressure. The alternative is for you to be quietly, intensely focused, apparently relaxed with a serene look on your face, but inside all the mental juices are churning. You flow with whatever comes, integrating every ripple of life into your creative moment. This Soft Zone is resilient, like a flexible blade of grass that can move with and survive hurricane force winds.” p. 54
Further reading: Chapter 2: Losing to Win, Chapter 5: The Soft Zone
From THE ART OF LEARNING by Josh Waitzkin. Copyright © 2007 by Josh Waitzkin LLC.
Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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December 20th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Pat Higdon Pollard, a consultant for my children’s book series, told me, “Miscommunication and emotional upheaval frequently occur due to boundary failure. Boundaries are about self protection. Most of us understand physical boundaries in that we do not allow others in our personal space without invitation nor do we violate the personal space of others. Protecting our emotional boundaries is a little more difficult.”
Josh describes “the soft zone” as a flexible blade of grass. An emotional boundary might also be imagined as a teflon shield. Comments you hear as insulting slide right off as they are not taken personally. You can also imagine having a force field around your body. You can choose what you will give attention to (I use a play light saber to draw imaginary force fields around my students). You can imagine your boundary however you want. If you have a weak emotional boundary and give others the power to control your feelings, when you hear a statement you perceive to be derogatory you immediately go on the defensive. As a result you participate in attack/ defend/ attack/ defend and rarely is there resolution of the conflict.
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