pulled in different directions

2008-10-17T16:59:00.021-06:00

Demands pull our attention in many directions. Our aspirations pull us upward and competing forces tug in other ways. Professionally feel the demands from work and productivity pulling downward. That creates tension with our dreams and we may sense we are going to be torn apart. Often we hear that people feel as if the practical pull is greater than the buoyancy of ambition. More than being tethered, in those circumstances the net movement is a descent. The arrows in this picture use size to illustrate the unequal forces. Our spirit is pulled down.

Recently, we learned that the metaphor of achieving balance is not sufficient. Instead the paradoxes we confront need to be coordinated. Realizing that the weights of various responsibilities cannot be reasonably set against one another, we can choose to focus upon managing the opportunities and entreaties without trying to stand in their midst.

Instead of standing between competing forces, we can position ourselves in order to coordinate the pulls. In academic lingo the label is individual agency. Many of us are okay calling it gumption. Instead of being stuck in the middle, we can re-orient so the two forces are no longer oppositional. We still depict idealism as an upward force. The difference is treating progress as pulling us forward. Without attending to the upward pull, we can move. The less we resist, the faster we will advance. By adding the vertical component, the direction changes. Better yet, there is no loss associated with the combination. In contrast to being torn between competing interests, this shift in position creates new results, and outcomes that move the individual into new directions. What promotes the capacity to consider the forces in this new way? Topologically, the shift is from one- to two-dimensional space. Instead of either/or the forces coordinate in an "and" that offers fresh possibilities. I'll confess shifting dimensions is not a simple mental feat: here's a clip from Flatland to illustrate the challenges. One step toward this transformation to imagining that one does not need to be pulled apart. Another is to envision how this might make things different. Next is to witness others who are working this coordination. And ultimately, it's about trying to live and work in ways where the pulls contribute rather than degrade one's energy.

at a crossroads

2008-06-22T15:59:00.001-06:00

Throughout the process of initiating, developing, and nurturing Science Education at the Crossroads, John and I have always had a playful attitude about what we're doing. The traditional experimental method and mindset isn't really what we've been doing. Rather, we've had the attitude more on the lines of two kids at the beach, building sand castles. We've had a long tradition of creating the things that we could with our own four hands, catering to our own sense of aesthetics, and satisfying our own sense of need. Whatever we didn't like we'd simply stomp on or let the tide wash away. The pieces that we've enjoyed and found valuable we continue to build up.

Lately, however, we've been discovering and admitting to ourselves that we have to look beyond our own sensibilities, even if we have a sense that things are working pretty well. This has led to one conference paper (in addition to many others already presented on the practicalities of Crossroads), an upcoming op-ed piece, and an ongoing book project. We realize that we need to document what we're doing and figure out the reasons why things are going well. Otherwise, we have nothing to present other than just a nice story about our own little provincial undertaking.

I think that's why I'm starting this thread as well. In one sense, having a place to jot down occasional ideas and outcomes is useful, sometimes even therapeutic, as it allows for very brief entries that may not end up going anywhere else. Additionally, and more to the point, it's a foray into something we're going to be pushing Crossroads participants to do for themselves, for the group, and for us. We want to document what it is that all Crossroad-ians are doing with their Ventures, how they get implemented (or not), morphed, grown, and the like.

This is our way of leading by example. More details about where this will lead are yet to come.