Know Your Process
Know Your Process
If you look around you, there is a structure, design, architecture, arrangement, formation, or framework to everything.
I went camping this weekend and visited with family. I enjoyed watching as two of them, a pre-teen girl and her brother, a teenager, expressed themselves in ways that were comfortable for them. They had very different but complementary approaches, but both of them knew how to keep going until they found the words that felt right and communicated what they were thinking or feeling.
Each of us must learn how to explore, dream, discover, and communicate in the ways that best suit us. Knowing yourself and being aware of your own process helps create a safe, familiar space to move through. You can use this structure in everything you love to do with a few tweaks.
When I choreograph a piece, initially, it is born through inner feelings in want of expression. As I embark on my journey, I let the movement out in its rawest form. Then without judgment, I hold space in my heart for the true, kind, and necessary parts that remain. With thoughts of someone, something, or a place I love, I communicate the story utilizing the tools at my disposal. Sometimes the piece comes out as improvisation, a well-practiced choreographed composition, or a combination of the two.
As I open my heart to the gifts within it, I listen, feel, make a choice, commit, and lean into the journey. Then, I tighten up the loose edges, and with no agenda, I share my story.
To do this effectively, I must first allow myself to move through and past the constraint of my thoughts, into the highest parts of myself, and beyond that.
This is my process. The approach may vary slightly, but the process remains the same.
Each of us has our own process. However meticulously structured, messy, unstructured, or free-ranged yours is, honor it as yours. It may not make sense, or it may frustrate anyone watching. That is okay.
They are witnessing only one moment in time while you hold in your heart your entire journey. Stick with it, do the best you can, be the best you can, stay curious, and know that you will figure it out.
