Plot Twists
Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash
A couple of weeks ago in a post about stretching, I mentioned the concept undergirding one of my favorite graduate classes – the idea that one of the skills of leadership is being able to envision the future. And so we studied leadership by reading novels and enjoying the ability of novelists to imagine a variety of ways to understand the world. But even in that class, we didn’t envision the plot twist of this semester. Hurricane Katrina taught us to plan for situations when we couldn’t rely on the city’s infrastructure. Virginia Tech taught us to prepare for active shooters on campus and pushed us to share more information about emergency planning. But, even in the most complicated and convoluted tabletop planning exercise, I don’t know of anyone who came up with the idea of moving all of higher education online within two weeks. That’s a plot twist!
In yoga, twists are one of the ways we build both the flexibility and the core strength to be ready to face the plot twists of life. To accomplish a twist safely, we must lengthen our spine and breathe deeply through the twist. We can’t force our way through and into the twist, we have to move with it smoothly, alert to any kinks we need to treat with care.
It seems to me the metaphor applies here. To manage the twists this semester has thrown our way, we have to stand tall meaning knowing what is important in the work we do. We have to keep breathing, taking care of ourselves and others as we move through the experience. And we need to remember we can’t force our way through this. A virus doesn’t respond to force and neither, really, do humans – at least not if we want people’s best work. And, I’m sure you have each already faced too many challenges (kinks) to count by now and discovered that breathing through them is really the only good option.
Today’s newsletter contains a few helpful articles from the many out there on the topic of leading in uncertain times. I hope you find them helpful. Today’s meditation link will walk you through an easy seated twist to give you a chance to experience this practice for yourself. There will be more plot twists before all is said and done. Remember to practice flexibility and self-care as you work to do your best for everyone around you. Best of luck to you all as the semester winds down and the pressure to decide what next ramps up.
Take care,
Gage