Push Pull, Flowing into the Unknown

After 2 months of transitioning people into my job responsibilities and leaving to pursue an independent research sabbatical, I find myself smack dab in the midst of the unknown – no schedule, no structure, no playbook for right now. My relationship to the unknown can be a key determinant of wellness or anxiety right now.  I thought it might be useful to write about this since working with the unknown is a big part of the design process.

There can be tension for many of us around the unknown. This is exacerbated in competitive environments that reward us for rapid insights. Many of us, all day long, run around, in our institutions and perhaps even families being rewarded for having answers, being the expert, problem-solving, taking care of business. We’ve internalized this way of being so there is a heavy discomfort with being in a position of not knowing. This became apparent to me in my first improv class.  What if its your turn and you don’t know what to do? There is a fear relationship with the unknown because we don’t want to come off clumsy or less than stellar. It was highly uncomfortable for me. People can respond by pushing away the discomfort or trying
to force something out of it (pull). Yet the unknown is where the possible lives and our curiosity has room to explore.  Once you connect with it, you develop a relationship with its own rhythm and pace. The unknown reveals itself in pieces. I follow the bit of information I receive until I get the next bit. Its a flow I can follow and which pulls me in.  

Among other tools, improv uses a series of group exercises to expand our norms of engagement with the unfamiliar so the unknown can come in to support the group’s endeavors.  It may start as a mental idea, a gesture, a sound but leads to a collaborative, group construct: a whole created out of “nothing.” Improv, and other applied creative fields, recognize that the unknown has ways of communicating, of being heard, of being felt, beyond the routine tools of the workplace. And if we are to go beyond what we know, we must learn its ways. What pulls me into my research is even with my limited experience across a myriad of modalities–from mindfulness, applied improv, therapy based modalities–I observe that the Unknown supports each individual at the leading edge of what they are willing to allow right now in their process, while also supporting a bigger outcome that is in alignment with the highest purpose for that group in the moment. So its these solutions that come forth, tailor fit for the group and the individual participants that I am interested in supporting. In particular, I want to look at 3 modalities–applied improv, Constellation Systems, and InterPlay as body-based approaches for facilitating group communication and problem solving. Let’s see where this flow takes me.

The photos are from one ‘structural’ element I have begun implementing–daily walks. The walk itself is a sanctuary – a bridge between where I have been, where I am going. Between the movement and the breathing I am restored to where I need to be right now.