Charlotte Schuchardt Read on Sensory Awareness.

Charlotte Schuchardt Read on Sensory Awareness. Excerpts from an interview by Louise Louise(ləwēz`), 1776–1810, queen of Prussia, consort of Frederick William III; a princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. During the Napoleonic Wars her patriotism and bravery won her lasting popularity. Boedeker in New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. onApril 11,1999. For more, go to www.learn-gs.org/library/csr-sensory.htm. Charlotte Read: At the seminars of general semantics gen��er��al semantics?n. (used with a sing. verb)A discipline developed by Alfred Korzybski that proposes to improve human behavioral responses through a more critical use of words and symbols. Korzybski Noun 1. Korzybski - United States semanticist (born in Poland) (1879-1950)Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski, Alfred Korzybski insisted that everyone should become relaxed, because he felt that itwas not only verbal work that was needed--awareness of how we speak andthink--but awareness of our organism organism/or��gan��ism/ (or��gan-izm) an individual living thing, whether animal or plant.pleuropneumonia-like organisms? any of various bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma, .... Our whole organism is involved in evaluating anything. It's it's?1. Contraction of it is.2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its.it'sit is or it hasit'sbe ~have because we don't don't?1. Contraction of do not.2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not.n.A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts. separate thinking from feeling. Whenever we thinkabout anything, some feelings go with it. We may not be aware of them,but they happen. And so we must think in terms of the whole organism. Iused to describe a picture--in fact, I have the cartoon cartoon[Ital., cartone=paper], either of two types of drawings: in the fine arts, a preliminary sketch for a more complete work; in journalism, a humorous or satirical drawing. that Korzybskiused to have on the wall. During World War II there was a picture ofabout six privates standing up with a shovel, and a sergeant standing infront of them. And he said to one of these privates standing with ashovel, "You, on the end there, wipe (1) To completely erase data from memory or the hard disk. See file wipe.(2) A digital video effect that places one image over another. Although there are a myriad varieties, the classic wipe is a scene transition where the next scene slides horizontally or that opinion off yourface!" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The point was, that we have opinions, not only on our faces, butall over us. So, if we think that we're we're?Contraction of we are.we'rewe are just in our heads, this isa misconception mis��con��cep��tion?n.A mistaken thought, idea, or notion; a misunderstanding: had many misconceptions about the new tax program. . And we must realize the state of our whole organism andhow it's functioning .... there's a relationship between whathappens in our body and what happens in our thinking.... And it was unusual for a student, when they thought that in generalsemantics we talked about 'thinking,' to include, "Howdoes our body respond?" Now the principles of general semanticsdeal with the relationship between our words and what the words standfor. But it includes our reactions, our awareness of being in touch withwhat goes on, our awareness of how our words--the structure of the waywe speak--corresponds with the structure of what goes on. This is a bigsubject. It's very simple, but it's not easy. It involves somany things: our perception, how we see, how we think, how we feel, howwe connect, how much in touch we are with where we are, what we observe,how we react to it, where our expectations get in the way, what order ofabstraction In object technology, determining the essential characteristics of an object. Abstraction is one of the basic principles of object-oriented design, which allows for creating user-defined data types, known as objects. See object-oriented programming and encapsulation. 1. we're on. For instance, do we go around thinking aboutgeneralities, like speaking in terms of "It always rains when Iwant to go out"? You know, people can make these big statements ingeneralities, which are not really fitting the facts. And we go by thesehigh-order abstractions and inferences, rather than looking at thefacts. One of the important principles in general semantics is to observeand be in touch with what goes on, and realize that we all have toabstract, because we're human, but let's bring our higherabstractions down to earth and see if they fit this particular situationthat we're in. So that, in Sensory Awareness Sensory awarenessBringing attention to the sensations of tension and/or release in the muscles.Mentioned in: Alexander Technique we also learn to getcloser to what goes on around us, how we react to it. It's arelationship between our feelings, our thinking, and how we function inour world, how we communicate. So there are many, many ways in whichthese two link together. The emphasis is different, but there are manyoverlappings. So that's, in a nutshell nut��shell?n.The shell enclosing the meat of a nut.Idiom: in a nutshellIn a few words; concisely: Just give me the facts in a nutshell.Adv. 1. , some of the mainprinciples. It was natural for me to see some connections and to realizethat, here is a method in Sensory Awareness to become more keen and morein touch with ourselves and our inner relation to what goes on aroundus. And then I emphasized it's important not only to know what goeson in us, but our relationship with what goes on in our surroundings,because I think we can become too concerned with, "Oh! I have apain here, Oh! I don't feel right here." But this work in Sensory Awareness is much broader than that,because we are interested not only in what is happening in us, but: Howdo we deal and function in this world? How do we communicate with otherpeople? What kind of connection do we have? This is really sofundamental in living. So, I continued to teach this. And some peopleliked to follow one aspect of it. For some people, it's hard to getin touch. But you can see that there's a lot of connection.... It's so important, I feel, to accept--not tocriticize--ourselves, as in: "Oh! I shouldn't do this! Ishouldn't do that!" but to accept what goes on. We all havebuilt up habits over the years and we all could function a little betterthan we do. Some people much more, some people not so much. But to allowwhat we feel is needed--this is a big thing, you know. It really is sofundamental, at least in my view, to allow what is needed. If, forinstance, we feel we want more air, do we allow it? We need to beinterested, not in a too-critical way, but just interested. How can Imeet this situation better? In order to meet a situation, you have to bein touch with a situation. To say to ourselves, "What does thissituation ask for? What is needed to do so-and-so?", to allow whatis needed. Do we need more air? Do we need more keen observation? Do weneed more silence? Oh, that's another important aspect of it, isn't it? Tobe able to be quiet. Now, this is important in general semantics too. Tobe silent on the objective level, as Korzybski used to say. Silence onthe level of the senses. Because if we're always talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"lecture, speechrebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to ourselves, giving comments to ourselves, talking to ourselves or tosomebody else--how we feel, what we think--well! there's no chancefor anything new to come in. We're just so full of words in ourheads. As Wendell Johnson Dr. Wendell Johnson (April 16, 1906 – August 29, 1965) was an American psychologist, speech pathologist and author and was a proponent of General Semantics (or GS). Stuttering contributions , who wrote this marvelous book, People inQuandaries, said, "Our words get in our eyes. Our words get in ourears." We get so stuffed with words it reminds me of the story inZen ZenImportant school of Buddhism that claims to transmit the experience of enlightenment achieved by the Buddha Gautama. Arising as Chan in China in the 6th century (introduced by Bodhidharma), it divided into two schools, the Southern school, which believed in sudden , for instance, of pouring a cup of water into a teacup: You pour,and you pour, and you pour. Well, the teacup is full. You can'ttake in any more. So if you're full of words in your thinking, youcan't take in what's going on What's Going On is a record by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. Released on May 21, 1971 (see 1971 in music), What's Going On reflected the beginning of a new trend in soul music. at the moment. So in allowing, we can ask of ourselves all the time: "Are weallowing this? Are we allowing the space around the shoulder? Are weallowing our head to move? Are we allowing ourselves to see?" Thisis something that we can continue to ask. In Sensory Awareness it'sso important. I feel it's allowing and accepting. But itdoesn't mean that anything goes. You accept something as,"This is what is going on--is this what we want?" Well, wehave to ask ourselves: Do we want to be like this? Do we want this to goon? Or would we like to function a little bit more easily, more clearly,and more joyfully joy��ful?adj.Feeling, causing, or indicating joy. See Synonyms at glad1.joyful��ly adv. ? What would we like? And can we allow it? So, this Ithink is a key point, being able to allow. It's not so simple, asI'm sure you know.... And that's something Charlotte Selver spoke of quite a bit: ofbeing responsive, being awake and responsive, being alive andresponsive, and knowing that you are there to help, you are there tooffer the work, and being responsive to what is needed to help thatsituation, whatever it is. So that's one aspect of offering it....Our attitude involves expectations. After certain numbers ofhappenings--if they've been bad, especially--we wonder, are wegoing to get slapped? Do we dare? How are we going to react to that? ... the work in Sensory Awareness helps us to become aware of howwe are responding, how we have learned to respond, how we are meeting anew situation, how we are meeting this or that task, how we meet people.It's a tremendous help if we want to help ourselves. We can be ourown guides. We don't always have to have--we can't always haveto have--a teacher available telling us how to behave. We can learn tobe our own guides. And this is one of the great strengths, I feel, ofSensory Awareness that we can help ourselves. We can help other peopletoo. But as a help to guide us, every day of our lives, we always havethis possibility. When we learn the principles, and how it feels to beopen to something, how it feels to be drawing away from something: wecan get that feeling and question. One of the things that I like aboutSensory Awareness is that we can always question ourselves: Well, howabout this? How am I meeting this? What are some other possibilities?How do I need to be? Could I be a little bit more open here? You see, wehave learned to become aware and sensitive to how it feels inside of usand what is needed to give that up. And it takes ... some time--a longtime--to finally give up, if that's what we want to do. You have tokeep at it. But the satisfactions along the way make everything a littlediscovery. So we're always open for discovering something. Thisagain is an attitude: to be open to the feeling that here is a newdiscovery, a new experiment. With an attitude of liking to experiment,we find there is not just one way to do this. There are many ways, andhow can I develop this? We learn that we don't have to follow justone particular specific repetitive way of doing something. We'realways open to trying out something new. I feel this is one way in whichSensory Awareness can help us always to be awake--and at least to knowthat we're not awake!... I have found personally that the asking of"Why?"--"Why do I do this?" and "Why do I dothat?"--doesn't always lead to an answer. You get preoccupied pre��oc��cu��pied?adj.1. a. Absorbed in thought; engrossed.b. Excessively concerned with something; distracted.2. Formerly or already occupied.3. with, "Why do I do this?" Well suppose you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why. All right, so this happened thirty years ago. What about now?"I did this because my mother used to say so-and-so-and-so."All right, but right now your mother isn't here, so what do you do?So, we need to learn to acknowledge that this is what's happening.This is a way in which we did respond. Probably it was a good way atthat time, but what about now? We have to learn to cope with right now,fully acknowledging what happened before, being glad that you don'thave the same circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or , perhaps. But now it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to let go.It's not easy to let go, once you build up a habit. But do we wantto live in the present? We have to stress acknowledging the past but notidentifying it with something that's happening now. This is easy tosay, but it's not easy to change. So education and awareness isneeded to learn to change. I know that that's a question lots ofpeople like to say--this endless asking of why? Have you maybe hadexperiences with what works with what you say?... another great linkbetween general semantics and Sensory Awareness in that we don'tidentify something that did happen in the past with what is happeningnow. We're treating each situation as a new situation.... One of the things I think of is being ready to begin again, beingready to not talk so much, but how about living life? Life is lived onthe silent level, and to be in touch with how things happen if wedon't talk so much, but simply learn to be quiet inside and get afeel of how our organism responds. I'm very grateful for the workin Sensory Awareness, which has helped me so much in being able to meetand learn more about how I function, about how other people function.It's a never-ending process of discovery.... CHARLOTTE S. READ, INTERVIEWED BY LOUISE BOEDEKER* * Excerpts from the Spring & Summer 2003 Time-Bindingsnewsletter, published by the Institute of General Semantics The Institute of General Semantics is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1938 by Alfred Korzybski, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Its membership roles include members from 30 different countries. withpermission of the Sensory Awareness Foundation, Mill Valley, CA(www.sensoryawareness.org) Louise Boedeker is a member of the EasternRegion of the Sensory Awareness Leaders Guild guildAssociation of craftsmen or merchants formed for mutual aid and for the advancement of their professional interests. Guilds flourished in Europe between the 11th and 16th century and were of two types: merchant guilds, including all the merchants of a particular town (SALG SALG South Asia Library Group ).