Finding a fit!

Finding where we fit is of existential importance

One of the most important things that we need to know is where we fit in our world.  When we are clear we can direct our energies in the right way without confusion or ambiguity, and free of anxiety.

The ancient Greeks put this in terms of an ‘agent-arena’ congruence.  We can illustrate what this means if we think of a football player (agent) in a football stadium (arena).  The player knows what the sticks at each end are for, what the lines on the grass mean, what the whistles or sirens signify and, with their skills of kicking and handling the right shaped ball they feel at home.  They fit in this world.

A tennis player on the other hand, put into such an arena would not know what things meant and the fact that they could use a racquet to serve a small ball at a high speed would not have any relevance.  They do not fit in this world.

For young people, knowing where they fit is of existential importance.

A reason that a small number of teachers have a life-long impact on their students is because they provide the conditions that support their students to find where they fit, thus meeting this existential need.  Adults who have had such experiences will often say “the teacher saw something in me that no-one else did”.

In fact, these teachers create such a relationship with a student that a space is created between them into which new possibilities and potentialities emerge that the student was not aware of but that point them towards their place in the world.

When our very existence is grounded in this way, we become highly resilient and capable of growing naturally towards our best selves.

There is joy for both teacher and student when this happens.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

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