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Letters to Biddy

~ a weekly reflection as a letter to Biddy Early, 19th Century Irish healer from Ennis, County Clare

Letters to Biddy

Tag Archives: Singapore

Just show up

23 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by Moira Were AM in Uncategorized

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Biddy Early, Br David Steindl-Rast, gratefulness, improv, playback theatre, Singapore

Dear Biddy,

The difference between pilgrimage and journey is that for the pilgrim each step is the journey, not the destination. Living in this way opens up new possibilities with every step. I am helped to being in the now by living gratefully and receiving the gift of each precious moment that offers opportunities and giving myself to the opportunity. Br David Steindl-Rast is the guru of teaching how to live this way, regardless of creed or belief system. His mantra to receive each moment as gift, can some times be quite overwhelming, an overflow of gratitude that saturates the soul.

As I have written before Biddy, improv is a great meditative tool and practice to support mindfulness. While sitting on stool in a bar by the river in Singapore I heard a young woman wrestle with her conflicting emotions of excitement and fear in taking up a new challenge. We were in good company and on the spot two improvisers were able to deliver there and then on the spot a reflection of those conflicting emotions – her joy and release were shared by the rest of us in this small group. A simple exchange. A sacred moment. How wonderful it would be if improv was applied and accessible in many other conversations. During this week at dinner there was a moment to teach a simple improv exercise (one word at a time) with friends who are in similar professional settings to me. One of their number, then applied that activity a couple of days later.

Like folk music, these gifts of improv, travel, are adopted and passed on to a new community. The power of play to teach and reach deep into our emotional selves provides the lived experience for the lessons to be internalised and remembered long after playtime is over.

Improv Workshop - TorontoBeing able to show up and be present and to share – the give and the take – an eternal exchange – just like breathing in and out – is the pilgrim’s vocation. The primer for this work is provided by Br David and whatever your spiritual heritage or practice his inclusivity makes his message of gratitude accessible to all.

Biddy, I am sure you took time for conversations about the celtic dreamtime; where the elements dance with the story of the landscape, the little people and trials and tribulations of everyday life.  And in that conversation a parting glass of whisky is raised sending pilgrims on their way. A conversation between you and Br David might lead to celebrating the sunrise, admiring the wild herbs making their way from wayside to table and a toast to a goodnight’s sleep to refresh you for the journey ahead.

You are both great companions for me on my pilgrimage.

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First Time

17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Moira Were AM in Uncategorized

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Biddy Early, Eliot. David Whyte, improv, Singapore

We shall not cease from exploration 

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started 

We know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot

 Dear Biddy,

The exploration never ceases, even when we don’t know we are exploring the journey unfolds unexpectedly when ground beneath our feet falls away or perhaps when directions being followed don’t translate to the road on which we are travelling. Around every corner, in every nook and cranny, in the spaces between conversations there is one arrival after another. All we have to do is turn up. To be in the moment, to be fully present to the present and to do the next thing at hand.

I am the type of person who says: what do you mean there is nothing in the house to eat? I can invent ten different menus and feed ten people out of nearly empty cupboards. It is the first time every time.

This week I have topped up for my love affair with improv, connecting with Tapestry Playback in Singapore and taking applied improvisation training from Izzy Gessel and dramatic facilitation with Ajit Kamath. The sheer joy and power of connecting is always beautiful to witness, give and receive. There are invitations everywhere around us to say yes and. More importantly the lesson for me this week Biddy has been one of co-creation. I like making. I work from the proposition that we have everything we need and can make do with what we’ve got, being creative is nothing special.

I remember two natural disasters that were connected to my life in oblique ways – Hurricane Katrina and the Asian Tsunami. Immediately after the tsunami, literally within days, locals began rebuilding their homes, burying the dead, fishing and foraging for food. They knew their landscape and were part of the eco-system. Immediately after Katrina families were unable to feed themselves and food was being shipped in. For the first time in history the US was in receipt of overseas aid. Months later when I visited New Orleans it was like a deserted theme park the morning after a big party. Row after row of houses remained abandoned and the shipping containers home to prisoners an unwelcome reminder of the incarceration rate in that part of the world. From the skies a blanket of national emergency tarpaulins blanketed large parts of the city. The subsistence economy of Aceh preserved and enabled life to return to some kind of normal in a relatively short time. Not so for the people of Louisiana. I wonder why I am telling you this story Biddy? I think this tale of two cities calls me to be reliant and to keep connected to my own world and to pay attention to the forces of nature so that whatever gets hurled, I am ready to receive and not be seduced by relying on what I have gained or lost, but to be in the moment and to say yes and to what is within and alongside of me – not to look too far behind or too far ahead but to be in the moment, fully present to the present. And in doing that know the place for the first time.

Every time I meditate it is as if I have never done it before. Improv is the same, each offering a completely new and unique moment. Each moment never to be repeated and total gift – as David Whyte says : Everything is waiting for you … and indeed it is! The kettle is waiting to sing for me. The rubbish is waiting for me to mid-wife it to recycling. The blooms in the garden waiting to be admired. Arms waiting to hold me and all I have to do is turn up and be present. Each time is the first time.

Golden Arches

Golden Arches

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