Inefficiency required: innovation and serendipity

"Creativity is a receptive experience."
-Jamie Catto


The demands on me in my life as writer, a mom, an artist and a teacher amongst many other things are enormous. And, I am always seeking ways to make things more efficient and sustainable. I also wish to contribute during my lifetime to the best and truest of my ability.


And, in the mix, I like to consider myself to be an innovator and a cultural creative. I know full well that the world needs more of us too. There is a need for imaginal intelligence and creativity like never before. We need to be spaces through which ideas and intelligence arise. We need to be as interested or more interested in the spaces in between. We probably have enough bankers for the moment. (No offense to bankers per se. But you know what I mean!) And I know more and more that two things are efficient and essential to support this: serendipity and exposure to diverse people, places and ideas. If I am feeling stuck or in need of inspiration I know for sure that even something as simple as a change of scene, like a 10 minute walk or a 3 minute dance, will give me a new perspective or clarify an idea. By the same token, if I get together a group of trusted diverse colleagues to brainstorm an idea for say 30 minutes, the efficiency goes up 10 fold. This is not rocket science. I think it's more reliable.


And to get outside of my familiar box and patterns, paradoxically, gets me more inside my deep self, deep presence and a connection to the wholeness of life. It seems to give rise to natural intelligence that is lost in getting into a predictable pattern or rut.


I recently stayed in a hotel in London on my way to be a part of Jamie Catto's brilliant "What about You?" weekend (full of diversity and innovation in and of itself. Excellent!) Due to this simple synchronicity, I came across an article in a Magazine in the room I would not normally read called Intelligent Life (Jan/Feb 2012). It was called 'Staging Serendipity' by Ian Leslie and it affirmed my appreciation for both synchronicity and diversity in such an unlikely place.


“Creativity is the practice of awe.” My dear friend MC Richards once said. And this practice of taking the time for awe is considered by many to be a waste of time. Don’t be fooled. Often, in the name of being efficient, we lose our capacity for innovation. Put another way, Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the Center for Civil Media at MIT says, "Serendipity is necessarily inefficient". Something inside of me feels relieved when I read these words. As a creative, I know the need to sketch, feel awe, daydream and write 'nonsense' in order to arrive at what needs unwrapping inside myself. “


Mr. Zuckerman also asserts that, "Innovation thrives on the serendipitous collision of ideas." Yes! Ideas, people, food combinations, new turns of phrase, fresh images, unusual streets and sounds. These all collide to form what will become the next work of art, the next set of images for the multi-media project or something in the next chapter of the book I am working on. We NEED fresh input to see where we are and stay awake. This can also be a fresh combination of things in one square foot of our front garden by the way!


And then there is the term "value homophile" which is a social term for our tendency to associate with others who think in similar ways to us. We think our worlds are full of diverse input because we use, say, Google search engines. But in fact, even with all the information available to us on the Internet, we will tend to stick to the same 1st page references. We tend to take the same way home and walk in the same small area of the places we live. We can be very easily and unknowingly creating our own rat run. Same routes, same people, same ideas. Have a look at how your drive, cycle or walk home over the next weeks. How much does your route vary?


We tend to orbit in the same way around people, places, social issues and friends. Ethan Zuckerman gave a speech to investment managers on Serendipity. He was nervous that they would not relate to the material. But on the contrary, they loved it. He says it was because "What they are looking for are strategies for finding inspiration outside their information orbit." Yes. We hunger for fresh perspectives to increase our natural awakeness. Even if you work from home, like I often do, you can 'walk to work' by going out into the hills above your office for an hours walk to clear your head and prepare for the day with much better oxygen flow to body and mind. When we get outside our own boxes we can operate more from the inside out.


In the Psychology of Happiness, it is a known fact that a great way to create a more connected and caring society is to make friends with people who are very different from us. Action for Happiness recently posted a lovely interview with Jon Yates from The Challenge Network explaining how greater diversity in our friendships has a positive impact on well being, responsibility, and the contribution young people can make in society.


This, in a similar vein, keeps us from complacency. This keeps us from 'us and them' and all manner of dualism. This keeps us sane and connected and awake as well. So here is to innovation and serendipity. All hail inefficiency, page 10 on the Google search, and discovering new friends and a new way home.


www.ktrenshaw.com

Celebrating Shamelessness

"Dartmoor Pony near Haytor" photo by Orion Trenshaw-Leggett

Embracing Natural Intelligence

"This is a trickster moment in history,” the wonderful Martin Shaw asserts as he contextualizes the role of myth and story in our time. And it HAS been an extreme time of quickening.  It seems like it's all falling apart. But like Arundhati Roy shares:

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way! On a quiet day, if you listen carefully, you can hear her breathing."

And like this breath, and the flow of stories and myths shared, genius lives in the margins… betwixt and between. From the edges, as I digest the deep beauty and wildness from the last 5 day Passionate Presence retreat Diving in Deep here in Devon, I am stuck by how our access to wilderness within and without is our confirmation.  Through time in nature, it confirms our natural intelligence.  Through dance, it clarifies our deep knowing. Through creative expression, it connects us to each other and the greater web of beings and life. We are broken open to the vastness that lives inside. And on an incredibly mundane level it simply cuts through to what is real and raw and authentic. How efficient.  How truly sustaining and sustainable.

This is not necessarily easy, but it IS very simple. And these insights feed the community in which we live. Powerful myth, I am also reminded by Martin, also feeds community.

And that leads me to recount the mythical story of Tatterhood*:

In the story of Tatterhood, the King and the Queen who cannot conceive seek fertility counseling from the Gypsy mother who lives on the margins of society.  They are desperate and so they resort to the margins.

In this symbolically rich story the Queen does indeed conceive and become pregnant after following strict instructions to take the bed outside and sleep in the woods. She also must bathe under the stars and return her bathwater to the earth.  And she must eat the white flower that grows from this watering and magic making. She eats the white AND the red flower as she cannot resist and it has consequence.  Of course it does.  It is a natural process and it is a myth.

The queen gives birth to twins.  And from between her quivering thighs, Tatterhood emerges first, riding a goat, covered in a furry hood and carrying a spoon raised and begging for food from the moment she emerges. Her sister comes second. She is fair, blond and exceedingly beautiful. She is also cooing, compliant and quiet. These sisters experienced many adventures and transformations. And what is most moving to me as I experience this story as if for the 1st time is the partnership between complementary forces; wild and tame, raw and refined, agitation and calm, masculine and feminine, fierce and passive. The deep love between the sisters allows space and the deep embrace for wildness, shamelessness and natural intelligence to arise.

The twins are inseparable. Together through adventures and courage, they create wholeness in each other and support each other’s fullness. They are without shame.

And when the 2 sisters at the end of the story have a joint wedding, Tatterhood's deep and utter beauty is at last revealed by simply being seen for who she really is by the masculine. Her goat becomes a stallion, her spoon becomes a magic wand and her hood becomes a feminine bejeweled crown.  And this "shameless" wild "creature" is even more beautiful than her lovely twin sister.

So here is to getting confirmed by deep wilderness. And here is to wisdom that lives betwixt and between. And here is to being broken open to the vastness that lives inside us all, and sustaining and feeding our communities. Just listen closely in the stillness of your heart, and you can hear her breathing without shame.

*Note: A Special note of gratitude to the amazing beings who made the Diving in Deep retreat such a powerful week, and to Martin Shaw for his highly skilled wholehearted sharing of story and soul at the Consciousness Cafe January 26 at the Barrelhouse in Totnes as a part of the Transition Town Totnes Movement.

for more information on Passionate Presence Center for Creative Expression offerings see www.ktrenshaw.com

The Dance of a lifetime

My dad died just over 18 years ago at this time of year. I realize that qualifies as a lifetime ago.  And rather poetically my son managed to be born on exactly the same day that my father died. We come. We go. (No pun intended.)

And every year at this time I think about my dad and these 2 juxtaposed life-altering experiences. Death. Birth. And what I am struck by this year is another favourite memory of my father…and how he may well have had a part in my deep love of dance. I don't remember where we were when this happened. I am sure it happened on several occasions. I can tell you we were somewhere in the Midwest United States in the late 60’s or early 70’s. 

I CAN remember the sensations and smells so clearly. The swooping feeling. The giddiness and grinning from ear to ear. The movement made my dark auburn curls sway back and forth. And then there was the dusty wooden floor and faint scent of women’s perfume and men’s shoe polish. The thrill and delight and ecstasy of feeling safe, supported, and cherished. My huge giant of a father waltzing me around the slightly dull worn oak dance floor with grace and ease and delight.  And light is what I felt… both a physical weightless quality and a giddyness as well as a kind of unstoppable radiance beaming from my heart.

It's the little things that matter.  And as I remember and still grieve my father, this little memory brings me great joy in the deep dark grey of winter. So always remember dads, cherish your daughters.  Let them stand on your shoes and dance them around the ballroom while you still can. The  grace and beauty of that dance will last her whole life long.

Be What you Are

"I remember lying in bed as a young teenager and deciding to hypnotize myself by saying these words: Be what you are, be what you are, be what you are. I said it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times, the intention being to protect me from what I felt was going to take me away from myself. And to this day I still say that when I think I'm trying to fit somebody else's expectations."

- Kay Ryan, 16th Poet Laureate of the United States

How do we remember who we really are? It is funny since we are born knowing this very clearly... and slowly but surely, the forgetting begins. We learn to adopt attitudes related to what would be, could be, should be rather than what is. And forget some more.

And now that I am a mother, I am even more keen to return to source and re-unite once again with this BEing quality that not only remembers but never even forgot. A cohesive radiant wholeness that just is.

I want this for my son. He has taken to commending himself lately when he does something well by simply saying, "I am awesome!" and sweeping across the room into one of his graceful judo rolls. I want him to hold this when it is true and also celebrate him in it. Equally, I wish for him to know sadness when it is happening and feel it with equal vigor. That is less simple somehow...especially for a boy child. And we are both returning to the inspiring words of Kay Ryan to Be what we are whenever we can.