The Power Of Sharing:
Please note: This is version 1.0 in an evolving story. Please add comments about what worked/not for you.
If you had the answer to the cure for cancer because of your particular way of thinking about things, would you keep it secret? What if everything you are carrying is as significant to someone else’s world, and the world at large, as a cure for cancer? Would you share it then?" - me
"every person is a world" - Talmud "Every person is an infinite universe onto themselves"
There have been a lot of lessons that I have learned / crystalised in the past days as a result of a dialogue I participated in and I would like to begin to share them. The first is actually my clarity around the power of sharing…
I have always intuitively believed in the power of sharing - sharing grows things, it is a generative space…and I knew that sharing, far more than holding onto thoughts, knowledge, burdens, spreads the load and allows for amazing new things to be born…and yet I could never quite explain it.
Here are a few things that I have learned that help me conceptualise/visualise it, written into a story*
You may also want a visual schema for sharing - type in sharing into visual theasaurus. [I am playing increasingly with story and visuals to help me communicate clearly so want to be sharing my thoughts there too]
A STORY TO SHARE: How to carry a person (evolving title)
1. Sharing makes room for new things to come into your own space as well as other’s space, and the world’s: I am one person with x amount of space (head space, body space) - I am also reasonably short so my space is thus even ’smaller’. I love having a lot of things going on in and around me yet it also means if I am carrying a lot at some point I am going to have less space for more things to come in, to flow in. If I want to be alive and present I want to be involved in healthy growth (not necessarily getting bigger) which also includes weeding and pruning…
2. Burden’s are heavy and
a.the load is much lighter when shared Imagine you were carrying a person because they couldn’t walk. You are happy to carry them, because they are nice, or interesting, or whatever it is that you feel the responsibility/desire/need to carry them. Yet carrying a person for an extended period of time can be heavy, aren’t they? Even if they are just a baby.
Now image if you were carrying that person with another person. They just got lighter - you have to carry less of the weight, but you are still supporting the person. What if now you were sharing the weight with 1000 other people? You could lift that same person with a finger tip, and guess what, you haven’t stopped carrying the person. They haven’t dropped, they are still being supported and elevated - you are still fulfillig your responsibility.
b. sharing allows you to move on too, retaining the memory and experience without the weight: Now let’s suppose you get tired. Sometimes we get tired. If we are carrying a person when we are tired then the person feels even more heavy. Even if you are sharing the weight, at some point even lifting your finger may be too much. If you have 1000 people carrying the person now, even if you want/need to take the finger away, you can! (Though I do recommend letting people know you are going to be removing your support). Without you in this case, the person (or whatever you are carrying around) is still supported. The weight and responsibility has been distributed.
Or perhaps you see another person who needs your help? With 1000 people also carrying the person now you can freely move on, knowing that there are enough other’s outside carrying the person (perhaps you need to let people know so they can shift around their weight to ensure the person stays support).
c. as sharing extends the time something can be carried, it may grow enough to not require support at all What if in all the carrying the person has (re-)gained it’s strength and can now walk or move themselves? Why would you continue to carry them for no reason? How great to know you have participated in the nurturing of a person to grow walk and/or fly on their own?
d. you may be carrying something someone(s) else needs too: What if the person you are carrying around is actually the perfect match for someone else in your life? You’ve been shielding that person from your friends, your wider communty, because you felt they were your responsibility only. What if there is someone who needs to meet that person as well?
e. Sharing is FUN
3. What if you are carrying the keys/puzzle pieces that open’s the doors for others? The idea of one man’s trash is another’s treasure may be true in this sense too. What if something you are carrying around that is causing you angst/thought is the key to solve a challenge someone else is working on. In sharing our thoughts with others, the more the chances that the keys get to the right doors, and the missing pieces get delivered to the almost complete puzzles.
If this still doesn’t make sense perhaps read this story again substituting the word person for: "world" "world’s challenges" "joys" "successes" "idea" "story" …whatever you are carrying that is feeling is getting heavy but you still want to carry/ feel responsible for…think of how you’ll feel when you share it?!
Action: But don’t take my word for it, why not try it - use any area of your life where you are feeling heavy and start speaking about it, or sharing it in any way you know (drawing, singing, dancing…cooking it into a meal…) let it go beyond you - and then write down all the positive things that happened after you released it…
My lesson that sparked the story: If I share what I am learning and thinking, if I share my stories and the burden/load I am carrying, it makes me lighter and ready to recieve and take in more from the universe and re-energise myself in the process, while also energising other’s! How else can we dance and play and fly and be ourselves easily if we are weighted down? And how much more fun it is to play in such spaces with others - the learning is that much more generative and, for me at least, that much more fun!
If you have tried this exercise and found it valuable please share it! And please do share your stories of the success in the comments below or with others…
PS I actually think I may make this into an illustrated children’s/adult’s story if someone’s to storyboard and illustrated it with me?
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