Would You Spiral In the Rain? Would You Spiral On A Train?
By Leslie Jones, SpiralMethod CEO/Founder
Every week there seems to be a new point of dissension, a new way we can take sides and create discourse. The recent flurry about Dr. Seuss and “cancel culture” is just the latest.
Here’s what my work in SpiralMethod has taught me: No matter what’s happening in the world, I make the choice about how I want to invest my time and attention. Every thought is a choice. I can choose to agree with others. I can choose to disagree. I can pick my battles.
But what if I chose no battles? What if I simply allowed opinion to be just that – opinion?
Whenever a new cultural or social conflict arises, I’m grateful for SpiralMethod. Its practice allows us to explore the real issues behind the challenges that arise in our lives. Spiraling creates space for our differences. There’s no need to react. In the process, we learn to appreciate and honor our collective consciousness.
When we Spiral —in the rain or on a train — and someone states an opinion or observation we respond, “Thank you.” Then we let it go.
At first, the absence of commentary feels uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. We are so accustomed to jumping in and filling the space between us with thoughts, ideas, and conjecture. We’re not accustomed to simply acknowledging each other. And yet, acknowledgment is all that’s required to drop into a deeper understanding of others and ourselves. Because when we drop the “story”, we are provided greater clarity into what is really happening.
Now, imagine a world where we drop our story and simply acknowledge what is. Imagine a world where we didn’t feel the need to take a side. For example, what if there was nothing to cancel in our culture? What if it just was.
From a Spiral perspective, there’s honoring. There’s discernment. There’s responsibility. There’s listening. We honor the past and leverage it so that we can appreciate where we are right now and that we can create a new future. And we don’t take sides.
Through this process, SpiralMethod helps us find “outside the box” (with a fox) options so we can give our attention to moving beyond discourse and into everything that lies beyond us or ahead of us.
There’s a way out of discourse. And it’s not over here or over there. It’s anywhere we Spiral.
