The Stress Doc reflects
on his Five Stage Courageous Resilience and Creative Risk-Taking Path with both
a “Resiliency Rap” and essay. The stages
are:
1. First an Agenda…Then into the Arena
2. Aware-ily Jump in Over Your Head
3. Strive to Survive the High Dive
4. Thrive On "Thrustration"…Incubate
to Illuminate
5. Design for Escape, Error, Evaluation…and
Creative Collaboration
Enjoy! MG
Courageous Resilience & Creative Risk-Taking (CR2):
The Art of Designing Disorder
In the 1980s, my “Creative Risk-Taking” path
certainly epitomized the paradoxical mantra of the head of a New Orleans law
firm: Strive High and Embrace Failure.
(Examples being trying to turn a mystical Mandala moment into a doctoral
dissertation and fairly soon after dropping out of my doctoral program – “when
academic flashdancing whirled to a burnout tango” – breaking into Cable
Television, with no prior industry experience.)
Though at that tender age in my existential journey, it was less embrace
and more “hold on for dear life.” I was
striving and failing yet living and learning at the creative edge. (In fact, one thing I gleaned from my Cox
Cable Chaos: The only thing more dangerous than taking a big risk or not taking any
risk…is taking a risk while minimizing the precarious reality of the situation. See below essay, “Creative Risk-Taking:
The Art of Designing Disorder.”
It is an upgrade of an essay originally penned shortly after my two
season TV run ended.)
And
immediately below is a “Resiliency Rap” that reflects an almost four-decade
journey whose primary goal has been to develop “courageous resilience and
creative risk-taking” (CR2) muscles.
Actually, I’ve jumped into another learning curve encounter. I’ve been reviewing some of my raps and
rhymes with the goal of turning them into less abstract and more accessible
offerings. It becomes a dialogue with an
earlier version of your own self. But
this time I’m conscious of wanting to further explore and develop my “Dr. Seuss
of Stress for Adults (and kids of all ages)” voice. So, the goal is pairing catchy rhythm with
accessible language, bringing to the screen thought-provoking ideas and emotionally
compelling images. Would love to hear
your thoughts on whether for you it works or not. To more good adventures. MG
~~~~~~~~~~~
Courageous Resilience & Creative Risk-Taking (CR2):
The Art of Designing Disorder
Preamble
Trio:
1)
The New “R and R”
2) Hide or Seek
3)
Failing…Flying
The New “R and R”
Resilience and Risk
The
new “R and R”
Where
effort and pluck
With
guidance and luck
Help
you stretch and stick
Even
when feeling stuck.
In
this life to go far
Forsake
the shooting star.
Never,
ever pass the buck…
Better
slog through the muck!
-------------
Hide or Seek
You’ve been tossed aside
You’ve been tossed aside
And question your berth
From reaping and sowing
Which way’s the wind blowing?
Will you choose to hide
In a mask of false pride?
Or still walk this earth
With the tide ebb and flowing?
All the time knowing
Not a clue where you’re going…
Sure, find a guide
But there’s still no free ride
For only you can decide
To fight for self-worth!
-------------
Failing…Flying
Is
failing shameful?
Or
a chance to learn
The
purpose of painful
Life
and living
To
be forgiving
Perhaps
even playful
If
not successful, then
A
point where you turn
To
a shoulder graceful
A
hug for the vulnerable
Opens
Yin/Yang mindful
So
“Right-Wrong” perceiving
Last
gasp “achieving”
Just
more self-deceiving.
Push
back on the rabble
Release
your time table
Till
mythical flow grieving
Seeds
magical conceiving:
Look, up in the sky…a Phoenix is believing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Five Stages of the New "R and R" – Resilience and Risk-Taking
The
first thought reading "risk-taking":
Getting
married or bungee jumping?
Or
cold sweats from public speaking?
(Is
there a Xanax for the asking?)
Add
"creative" to the edgy border:
It's
"The Art of Designing Disorder!"
Sure,
spend time on mission and goal
But
the biggest fear: losing control.
Before
you leap without a net…
Build
up your "T 'n T" asset:
Bring
a "Tough 'n Tender" mindset!
Risk-taking, Risk-taking
Why are my legs still shaking?
Creative Risk-Taking
Will this be my unmasking?
1. First
an Agenda…Then into the Arena
Why
must dark clouds of discontent
Electrify
a mind hell bent
Before
brain bolt is heaven sent?
One
never breaks out of a rut
With
"b.s." (be safe) chorus of, "Yes, but."
Climb
upon a pregnant stage
Can
one give birth at any age?
Let
"why not?" be the dawn outrage.
Is it
time: the hero's journey?
To be
contrary…now that's scary!
Risk-taking, Risk-taking
What will you be forsaking?
Creative Risk-Taking
Bring on the crazy-making?
2. Aware-ily
Jump in Over Your Head
Take
the plunge; eyes wild and wide
Set
book knowledge to the side
For
Wonderland's dopamine ride.
Are
you in flight or stage fright freezing?
It's passion-play…deep
breaths, keep breathing.
Crisis
mode; now high alarm
Go
ahead, just take my arm
(Unless
you have a lucky charm?)
Still,
better do an inventory
Own
your defects; no need for sorry.
Risk-taking, Risk-taking
Is your false pride a-quaking?
Creative Risk-Taking
Don't get tied to burnout staking.
Don't get tied to burnout staking.
3. Strive
to Survive the High Dive
Time
to face your "Intimate FOE":
Fear of Exposure, oh
no, oh no!
The
Big Q: Shall I stay or shall I go?
To
"b.s." or not to "b.s."?
“No
Pain…No Gain” for real success.
The
formula to grow stronger:
Not
black or white, “I’m right, you’re wronger”
But, Strive High…Embrace Failure!
Repetition
with reflection…
Still,
when soaring sans direction
Beware
Icarus ** perspiration!
Risk-taking, Risk-taking
Is it a vision speaking?
Is it a vision speaking?
Creative
Risk-Taking
Or
hallucination needing tweaking?
** Icarus - in Greek mythology, son of Daedalus
who, employing his father’s invention – wings of feather and wax – lost his
life daring to fly too near the sun
4. Thrive
On "Thrustration"…Incubate to Illuminate
When
ideas just won't unite
Your
fishing line can't get a bite
Let
conscious mind drift out of sight.
Volcanic
dreams spark lava light.
Perhaps
it’s finally time to huddle
Cold
concepts too need chance to cuddle.
Forget
willpower resolution
When torn
between thrust and frustration
Try an
incubation vacation:
Some
subterranean obsession
For
that newly hatched creation.
Let go
to flow into your Zen
Up
there…”Aha”: rainbow horizon!
Risk-taking, Risk-taking
Surprise stops brain juice slaking.
Creative Risk-Taking
Now you’re the news that’s breaking!
5. Design
for Escape, Error, Evaluation…and Creative Collaboration
You unearthed
the link; crawled through the cave
Survived
the dark heart craze and crave.
It’s
time to think outside the maze
To set
some hollowed truths ablaze.
Now
find a kindred-vexing view…one who
Makes
the “strange familiar,” the opposite, too.
Like
Lennon-McCartney and the Powers of Two.
**
Still
never forget: To thine own self be true!
** Joshua Shenk, Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014
Through
trial, error, and appraisal
Endless
duels of angel and devil
Let
you mine those sacred symbols.
Mystic
silence…out of body travel
Now
reveals the archetypal
Mandala
** vision of the soul
Spirit
voice from a black hole
Are we
ready? Let's Rock and Roll!
** Mandala - Sanskrit for "magic
circle"; a meditative tool/artistic structure often revealing: a) a geometric
– concentric and symmetric – patterning with a focal or centering point, b) a North-South,
East-West axis, and c) an image of synthesis, signifying a higher or sacred
“Self.” Akin to an India rug pattern or
the unfolding petals of a flower, for the pioneering psychoanalyst, Carl Jung,
the Mandala was a cross-cultural symbol or archetype of the collective
unconscious depicting psychological wholeness or his concept of "individuation,"
that is, psychic – persona and shadow, conscious and unconscious –
integration. Email stressdoc@aol.com for more information.
Closing
On
this "Resilience and "Risk” voyage
An
ongoing “Word Artist” passage
Often with
a mercurial message:
Not
"means to an end" nor a quest "one and done"…
Not when
nightmare daze blocked a child’s sun…
Still,
battles once lost may now be rerun
And
the memory web can be respun
As the
wheel of choice for “R and R” madhouse fun.
Oh, will you resist that old urge to run?
© Mark Gorkin 2015/17
Shrink Rap ™ Productions
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