Your comment on my essay has walked around with me for a couple of weeks. I’ve been noting the temperature in the room and being curious about whether there’s a thing worth saying in response, but it’s all been wordless. And now THIS has arrived, I think this might’ve been the thing worth saying all along 😉 Always a pleasure to weave with you, D.x
"I have learned to trust the music behind the words as more important than the words themselves". Love this! First time I saw your documentary I was deeply moved because of the "music" behind the words. Like I feel it more than intellectually take it in. You are a rebel poet. Your language is exquisite. Feels like your word music capture things deep inside me that I have not been able to capture myself. Very liberating. And deeply moving. Thank you!
"...there are few things that feel better, few situations in which I feel more alive, even on the nights when things take an unexpected turn." I feel the same, Dougald, and appreciate your stage presence and these insightful words about what it takes to be up there. A friend told me many years ago that "all you have to do is stand up on stage and be there. Nothing else. Just be present and let the music happen." I had no clue what she was talking about then, and have come to appreciate the beauty of not performing, simply being a channel for whatever is coming through. And what a lovely photo of you at Ängsbacka last year :-)
Your ability to pause is one of the first things I noted about you Dougald. It is a very good skill. For myself, as someone tending to confidence / eloquence I have to make sure not to take up all the airtime, therefore often when I am speaking I am trying to do it quickly & succinctly. So I noticed the way you always pause before responding as a useful counterbalance to my reluctance to take up space.
Re. Keynote what about a simple rearrangement? Note-key
Wonderful, Dougald. Having tried both improv and standup (very briefly), and facilitated many workshops and retreats, this absolutely tracks. There is always a wisdom in the room that one of my mentors calls “the field.” I still get nervous in front of people, but once I relax and settle into the field, I can trust that what’s meant to emerge always does. Emergence is so much more fun than being the “sage on the stage.” Special thanks for your mention of Lydia Catterall’s essay. Lovely discovery!
I think (know?) you’re allowing the right hemisphere to lead Dougald. Also makes me think of Sheldrake’s morphic resonance and Jill Purce’s family constellations, which miraculously, work even if the circle is formed via Zoom as I learnt during the pandemic. The need for less words – or less emphasis on them being the ultimate communication – and more charge/chi/invisible unification feels very Uranus in Gemini, where it moved to on Monday. Its current relationship to Pluto in Aquarius (humanity, the collective) harks back to its position in the late 60s and all the protests/revolution that that entailed. Saturn and Neptune conjunct also speaks of bringing structure to invisible things and/or dissolving barriers. Very much the music behind the words – great description.
Your comment on my essay has walked around with me for a couple of weeks. I’ve been noting the temperature in the room and being curious about whether there’s a thing worth saying in response, but it’s all been wordless. And now THIS has arrived, I think this might’ve been the thing worth saying all along 😉 Always a pleasure to weave with you, D.x
"I have learned to trust the music behind the words as more important than the words themselves". Love this! First time I saw your documentary I was deeply moved because of the "music" behind the words. Like I feel it more than intellectually take it in. You are a rebel poet. Your language is exquisite. Feels like your word music capture things deep inside me that I have not been able to capture myself. Very liberating. And deeply moving. Thank you!
Well said.
So many speakers see themselves as projecting into an empty space, not as working with a group of people paying them in attention.
"...there are few things that feel better, few situations in which I feel more alive, even on the nights when things take an unexpected turn." I feel the same, Dougald, and appreciate your stage presence and these insightful words about what it takes to be up there. A friend told me many years ago that "all you have to do is stand up on stage and be there. Nothing else. Just be present and let the music happen." I had no clue what she was talking about then, and have come to appreciate the beauty of not performing, simply being a channel for whatever is coming through. And what a lovely photo of you at Ängsbacka last year :-)
Your ability to pause is one of the first things I noted about you Dougald. It is a very good skill. For myself, as someone tending to confidence / eloquence I have to make sure not to take up all the airtime, therefore often when I am speaking I am trying to do it quickly & succinctly. So I noticed the way you always pause before responding as a useful counterbalance to my reluctance to take up space.
Re. Keynote what about a simple rearrangement? Note-key
Wonderful, Dougald. Having tried both improv and standup (very briefly), and facilitated many workshops and retreats, this absolutely tracks. There is always a wisdom in the room that one of my mentors calls “the field.” I still get nervous in front of people, but once I relax and settle into the field, I can trust that what’s meant to emerge always does. Emergence is so much more fun than being the “sage on the stage.” Special thanks for your mention of Lydia Catterall’s essay. Lovely discovery!
I think (know?) you’re allowing the right hemisphere to lead Dougald. Also makes me think of Sheldrake’s morphic resonance and Jill Purce’s family constellations, which miraculously, work even if the circle is formed via Zoom as I learnt during the pandemic. The need for less words – or less emphasis on them being the ultimate communication – and more charge/chi/invisible unification feels very Uranus in Gemini, where it moved to on Monday. Its current relationship to Pluto in Aquarius (humanity, the collective) harks back to its position in the late 60s and all the protests/revolution that that entailed. Saturn and Neptune conjunct also speaks of bringing structure to invisible things and/or dissolving barriers. Very much the music behind the words – great description.