This picture beautifully expresses one of the core pain points and growth opportunities I explore with my clients. We can ALL fall into this. Doing our script. Sticking to the plan.
Can any actual listening be done in this context? So much of my work is about clearing away the teleprompter... real ones, and those that we've internalized in our daily communication. We often teach what we most need to hear. I find myself "doing my script" at home all too often. Same joke. Yeah, the content might vary slightly, but essentially the same comedic devices and approach. Ouch. Gotta let go of the old stuff. New material required. Same complaints. Does Victoria really need to hear me blame Google or Apple again, for something that is most likely caused by my inadequacy or inattention to detail? This one hurts: the same limits. A script, by virtue of its function, is inherently a limit. That may be wonderful when it's richly and precisely written, with the power to inspire. What about when that script contains a pessimistic story that has no basis in current fact? In Lawrence of Arabia, Peter O'Toole's character, having crossed a desert thought to be unbridgeable, having transcended his own perceived physical and psychic limits, utters the immortal words: "nothing is written". The teleprompter goes bye bye and, instead, we come alive to life's adventure. An adventure which, naturally, takes infinite form, including the one emerging right now. Where are my teleprompters today? What offers am I receiving in each moment, that I've heretofore been missing? What fresh offer can I make? Or maybe today's just about appreciating others'? Nothing is written. I'll see you in the room.