What's going through my head right now #5

Serenity -

a question of ignoring or better perception?

I still remember the moment when I first encountered the term ‘mindfulness’ - like an unexpected guest who suddenly appears at the door and doesn't want to say goodbye. It was a time when I was at several crossroads in my still young career as a dance artist, not knowing which path would be the right one. The possibilities spread out before me like a fan of countless facets - as if I were entering the roundabout at L'Arc de Triomphe and had no idea which exit would lead me to my destination, let alone how to escape the traffic chaos of cars and find my way out.

As a dance artist, especially as a choreographer, mindfulness is an elementary component in the mosaic of my methods, which emerges very naturally and organically - like water finding its way through rock. It requires detailed and reflective observation, the perception of myself, but also of the entire environment, with all my senses. Constantly and continuously, like breathing, which we forget until our attention is drawn to it. Movements, expression, formations, the architecture of life are explored in this way and flow into the artistic work and interpretation, as well as representation for stage works - like a river that carries sediments of various kinds.

At the moment, I find myself in a kind of roundabout again - a whirling carousel of possibilities and constraints. Many decisions are waiting for an answer like impatiently waiting children, some of them to a certain extent self-steerable like a sailing boat in a light wind, others again in a dependency that is crystal clear here and there and in other areas rather vague, almost nebulous like morning mist over an autumn field.

But that is the difference to previous scenarios: I am far more relaxed, watching many a situation or action without an increased pulse rate, like a resting stone in a roaring stream. I don't let myself get upset so quickly, sometimes I even stand beside myself like a silent observer watching the goings-on on the street through a window. I observe the scenery and try to filter out a certain essence that makes it easier for me to make judgements and decisions. To perceive the moment as holistically as possible and not just from my own, usually very narrow perspective - as if I were not just looking through a keyhole, but opening the whole door.

The fact that the whole world seems to be turning into a madhouse at the moment is certainly also thanks to the omnipresent media and countless channels that are trying to influence our lives like hungry predators. And even if we resist this and stop watching TV, as we reduce our time in front of screens, smartphones and on social networks, we are not immune to being surrounded by all this information and images. There is a web of stimuli lurking around every corner, covering our everyday lives.

Not allowing ourselves to be constantly confronted, taking time out again and again - an island of calm in a sea of noise - and finding our way back to ourselves, to our own values, living them and not just labelling them, not just writing them down like on a shopping list and then forgetting them as a side note on the fridge, requires a good dose of serenity. An inner calm to give things the right weight, to be able to let go of thoughts like balloons on the horizon and not to give space to every negative headline, every dramatic event and hyped statement. Gaining distance and filtering out what really moves you deep down, what motivates you to take the next steps and not seeing a tragedy or even epic conspiracies behind every action that hang like dark clouds in the sky of our perception.

And even if disasters do occur, without trivialising or simply accepting them, it is important to recognise what you can do to prevent, contain or mitigate them - like a dyke that cannot stop the water, but can divert its destructive course. Because serenity has nothing to do with apathy or lethargy, but with an emotional balance that can still unfold its effect empathically and energetically at the same time - like a calm lake that has the power to draw the most perfect reflection of the world in its tranquillity.

With this in mind, I wish you all a relaxing Sunday and a serene start to the new week - may the coming days be accompanied by a touch of that serenity that comes not from ignoring, but from a deeper perception.

Yours Jochen, sincerely