Category Archives: inspiration+wonder

go do, hold fast

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let yourself be surprised, open to your surroundings, go do, hold fast
let yourself be surprised, open to your surroundings, go do, hold fast

  1. It was late, my pants all on the dryer. I was lounging around,  not wearing real clothes, reading a book. As if on cue, my Dad appears in the doorway and asks if I’d try a night beach bike ride.  
  2. Plenty of reasons to say no, but I wanted to say yes. When I think of saying yes,  I’m encouraging myself to say yes to me, to allow myself the things that I want and need.
  3. We squeaked across the low-tide sand, marking space + distance by the red fishing lights and the vague sense of proximity to the surf, both giggling and listening,  senses heightened. And I was reminded that despite the vast chasm of our differences there are rare places where we meet. For tonight, I’ll hold fast to that

T.O. 1  Stay Engaged

Stay Engaged (first agreement of T.O.) and part of this means that if one needs to break any of the other agreements, keep this one.

Portion of a mural in Fishtown by Amberella

Stay Engaged is first agreement of T.O. as presented at Philly workshops.

Stay engaged helps me to check myself on the ways that I sometimes tune out or withdraw myself when something gets difficult, uncomfortable, or boring. As I become more aware of this, I also find myself accidentally returning to the mental to-do lists and tasks with the speed that one flips from social media post to post to post.

If one needs to break any of the other agreements in order to keep this one, keep this one.

T.O. Theatre 

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Over the past few months I have been spending many hours here (and elsewhere too) exploring through Theatre of the Oppressed. It resonates with me in ways I could not have predicted and in ways I do not fully understand just yet. Today I am grateful for this time, this learning, this glimpse of a path that I start to see before me. "Caminante no hay camino sino estelas en la mar."

Over the past few months I have been spending many hours exploring and learning through Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O.). It resonates with me in ways I could not have predicted and in ways I do not fully understand just yet. Today I am grateful for this time, this learning, this glimpse of a path that I start to see before me. “Caminante no hay camino sino estelas en la mar.” (Antonio Machado- Wanderer, there is no path but wakes in the sea.)

Somehow from a variety of interests, a sense of direction that I have not felt in a long time has started to emerge. Between Quaker meeting, T.O., self-directed learning, and bike co-op for Ry, there are some definite themes. There is a strong sense of cooperative effort and yet I find myself more sure of my individual voice. There is less capitalism, less hierarchy, less rigid structure and this means there is more room for collective energy, branching out, and open-endedness.

T.O. Philly has four agreements to each workshop. The first three are similar to agreements that I have seen in contact improv, and the fourth would be applicable as well:

stay engaged

experience discomfort

speak your own truth

expect and accept non-clousure

I plan to reflect in this space about each of the four agreements, and the surprise fifth agreement that often pops up. Any guesses which of the four is the most challenging for me personally?