Thursday, March 19, 2009

Steer in the Direction of the Skid


I know. This picture does not illustrate the point. Where would I find icy road conditions to photograph, in Netanya? But Chana Weisberg was driving on ice when a thought came to her, which has been provocative, puzzling and illuminating to me since I heard it. As her car skidded out of control, a voice inside her chanted the mantra we learn, "Turn the wheel in the direction of the skid". Counterintuitive. Her kneejerk reaction was to fight it, steer in the direction she wanted to go. But she fought the instinct, and followed the mantra, with her goal clearly in mind: to get back on track. Chana contemplated the use of this idea when things slide out of control with our children or partners. You want to say, "No!", but first, steer in the direction of the skid. Follow your child's line of thinking to what led him to react that way. Feel your husband's frustration for just a moment. Find out how the slide began. So I've been trying on this metaphor for size in the last couple of days.

1 comment:

  1. remember, that for every aphorism, there is (probably)an equal and opposite aphorism. I cant think of the relevant aphorism at the moment, but the gist is to keep in mind where you really want to go. (When you're up to your ass in alligators its hard to remember that you came here to clean up the swamp. Of course, equal and opposite are often complementary. ~ The movie Judy and Christine in Barcelona somehow melds the two. I think

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