Thinking about a New Year’s Resolution?
How about something entirely different for 2021– embracing the art of Improv!
I belonged to an Improv group once, and it was truly life changing – I laughed, got creative, but most importantly learned about ‘blocking’. So, what is blocking? It is an automatic response of saying ‘no’ – which stops the flow of a scene and doesn’t let creativity flow. The rule in Improv is that you always say ‘yes’, no matter how wild or unexpected the suggestion of the other actors is on stage. You can imagine how much more fun, and interesting an Improv skit can be when actors are open and ‘go with the flow!’
So how do we relate that to our New Year’s resolution? How about bringing the art of Improv into your everyday life, especially bringing awareness to when you are ‘blocking’. Blocking is when you automatically say ‘no’ to anything unexpected or that might involve a change, before giving yourself time to actually consider the possibility. Remember blocking stops the flow of energy and creativity. ‘Blocking’ responses will keep you safe and doing much the same every day of your life at the cost of stopping you from new experiences, learnings and adding vitality into your life.
I’ll give you some examples of typical blocking responses, “yes, but…..”, “maybe later…..”,
“I’m too old…..”, “I could never…..”. Sound familiar?
So how do you practice this? Start simply with becoming aware of every time you block a suggestion, invitation, or new idea, and then practice, practice allowing yourself to say yes!
Of course, there are some things that you should say no to, however there likely are a lot of opportunities that could be great new experiences for you and your brain!
Your brain loves novelty!
Would you like to learn how to juggle?
Your immediate response might be “No, that’s stupid, that’s for kids.”
Or “Yes! I have never juggled, who knows it may become my new hobby”!
Which line feels better?
By saying “yes” it encourages us to head towards movement rather than stagnation. And it helps us with change, which is so much part of life! Movement rather than stagnation – Yes!!
The joke in Improv is “the more time spent improv-ing the greater the improvement!”
I encourage you to take this principal from Improv and it will be life changing, in a good way!
