Snack #13: The Arcade Dance Battle & WW2
Arcades are every boy's dream. I went out to a bar that had an array of old games, including DDR (I sucked. Badly) then I found myself, for the first time in forever, in a dance battle. It was a chance to practice (not train, but just do what I have been training) authentic dancing in front of a crowd and in a club.
I never looked at it that way before, but it was refreshing. Although out of shape and facing an amazing dancer, I did feel very present, and I was aware when I lost my groove and my connection because I lost the crowd's attention. It was a mind-opening experience. I now realize that freestylers and street dancers practice authentic dance all the time, we just don't break it down or are aware of all the nerdy aspects that I've been working on understanding.
Lesson from a thing:
When I get really emotionally unstable, I found out that I use distractions to gain a sense of stability. It could be watching a movie or a YouTube video binge, or scrolling through media, or going out to get drunk. Each distraction provides an unrelated experience to what you are going through internally, or, just provides any type of experience, when you have no idea what you're feeling - in order to give you emotional contrast to figure it out.
I'll try to explain.
I call it dithering. A term invented in WW2 when they found out that calibrating airplane navigation systems in the air (they were mechanical back then) was more accurate than when done on the ground. The vibrations and physical "noise" made the systems run smoother, and provide more accurate results.
Why not do it with feelings?
Not sure how you feel? Maybe angry, or anxious? Cool - pick an emotional flavor, preferably extreme, like jumping up and down in extreme joy, or throwing a kicking tantrum, and then see how you feel in relation to that. "oh, after throwing a tantrum, I realize I'm not really mad, I'm just sad".
Awareness increased!