Sanity playground
In the recent "Dark Knight" movie, one of the quotes that stuck with me was (no spoiler here) "Sanity is like gravity - all it takes is one little push." I believe that... but I don't think sanity is a top-of-the-empire-state-building ledge; I see it more as a chin up bar that's just out of easy reach... it takes a bit of a jump to catch on. Which means that I think we too often forget that if you do lose your grip, there's no reason to panic; you're not unrecoverable... after all, it's just another short hop back to where you were.
In longer terms, this metaphor suggests to me a few interesting things about internal equilibrium (another somewhat misleading expression). There's really no 'goal' that you'll reach by hanging on longest or doing the most chin ups in perfect time with everyone else (this conjures a vision of a branch office of Hell which looks suspiciously like a Bally fitness club I once belonged to). The point is just to hang on for as long as is healthy.
Which means I've been doing improv about half right for years. I've been taking the 'ever saner' approach all along... training with the diligence of olympiads, so that I could one day to a double-reverse-poleax-immelmann-half-spin with a left handed backflip. Not that that's not been useful and fun, but it still is only half the picture. Because you know what all of those routines end with? A dismount!
So I think I need to practice a little more of the 'stick'. (yes, I watched gymnastics in the last Summer Games... mostly the women's gymnastics, though.) I think I need to let go of the bar and spin. And sometimes the perfect routine involves catching the bar for another flip up - but sometimes the only thing that makes the high spinning flyouts interesting is the clean fast drop to the floor, and a brief bow.
(and then maybe a brief break to 'rest my arms')
In longer terms, this metaphor suggests to me a few interesting things about internal equilibrium (another somewhat misleading expression). There's really no 'goal' that you'll reach by hanging on longest or doing the most chin ups in perfect time with everyone else (this conjures a vision of a branch office of Hell which looks suspiciously like a Bally fitness club I once belonged to). The point is just to hang on for as long as is healthy.
Which means I've been doing improv about half right for years. I've been taking the 'ever saner' approach all along... training with the diligence of olympiads, so that I could one day to a double-reverse-poleax-immelmann-half-spin with a left handed backflip. Not that that's not been useful and fun, but it still is only half the picture. Because you know what all of those routines end with? A dismount!
So I think I need to practice a little more of the 'stick'. (yes, I watched gymnastics in the last Summer Games... mostly the women's gymnastics, though.) I think I need to let go of the bar and spin. And sometimes the perfect routine involves catching the bar for another flip up - but sometimes the only thing that makes the high spinning flyouts interesting is the clean fast drop to the floor, and a brief bow.
(and then maybe a brief break to 'rest my arms')