The Manifesto 7#
Can we talk about our strengths?
Performers have an innate strength that allows them go onstage and perform no matter what they are dealing with in life. Perhaps it’s because ‘the show must go on’? Or maybe it’s because that’s where they get respite from life’s challenges.
I want to talk about this because it got me thinking about a technique used by therapists called ‘bracketing’. It’s what we do with own personal judgments, bias, feelings and emotions around an issue that a client might bring to a session. We have to put our own feelings to the side, metaphorically in brackets, and keep listening with an open heart. Then we have the option to come back to it later if I need to make sense of anything personally.
The reason I’ve been thinking about this is because it is similar to what you have to do when you go onstage. To go onstage and pull off a professional performance, you have to ‘bracket’ whatever is going on in your personal life, the breakup, the grief, the argument, just for that hour of stage time, so you can perform, and perform safely. To give the audience what they came for. It’s your job. You can then come back to it when you’re in a place where you can share, in private, or with a friend, or a therapist, or a partner.
Now the interesting thing about the world of performing arts is that most of you can already do this, you actually do it all the time. In very real terms, whether you know it or not, you are absolutely incredible world-class experts at this technique.
So I’m wondering, if we can do it so well onstage, can we do it at other times of our life? Are we more in control of our emotions than we think? Can we say to the flooding, the ruminating and fog that comes with managing a life challenge, “You just stay there for a minute, I need to go, but I’ll be back”. To go into a creative development, or have dinner with friends, or say to a nagging fear: ‘I just simply need a rest from you’. It is not denial, or numbing. It’s the process of being able to control what your brain is focusing on without being flooded by emotion.
What are you already doing well? And how can you apply and practice it in other areas of your life?
I figure practice puts brains in your muscles. – Sam Snead
Kareena. x
Kareena Hodgson was a full-time professional international circus performer for 20 years, who is now an accredited Counsellor/life coach and The Manifesto is her professional consultancy. She is uniquely suited to working in the mental health space within the performing arts. She is also the Senior Editor, Executive Coach & Moral Backbone of Carnival Cinema.
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