Now and again, I throw out an invite to the tankespjärn-community without setting a topic for the monthly ninety minute meet-up. That’s what I did for the July-session (that took place in August). And it’s interesting, because it doesn’t take many minutes for us to hone in on what will be come, by mutual agreement, the topic for the call.

What emerged was the concept of skillsets, starting off with the skillset of talking/conversing, where adding a who, what, how, when, why can really help people to get talking. And off we went… the way we usually do, having a meandering conversation amongst the nine (or so) of us. Which in itself is a skillset, the ability to stay in, play with, and enjoy a meandering conversation where the starting point was non-existing to begin with, kind of took shape, only to shape-shift numerous times during the one-and-a-half-hours we spent together. 

Looking at the doodle, I laugh to myself, wondering how I will ever be able to connect the dots here, in writing, and somehow… decide not to. Here’s a few of the things that stood out for me though:

  • Learning about versus learning how.
  • How learning can start off with you in the fog, where you cannot even see all the dots to start with, but gradually, over time, it starts to clear up, dots begin to connect, and all of a sudden, there you are, seeing an emerging pattern.
  • What lies between me and my success is my thinking.
  • There’s more than one you.
  • The physicality of emotions.

I’ll just chalk it up to being one of those You should’ve been there!-moments, where the doodle might certainly spark insight and provide tankespjärn, but I have a hard time seeing that you’d be able to understand what went on.

Luckily.
I don’t think you have to.
Partly because I am not sure I do, understand that is.
Partly because there’s certainly no right answer here.
It just is, what it is: A doodle from a conversation on a Sunday in August of 2021, where a handful or two of people enjoyed themselves immensely, being alternately thrown off balance, alternately throwing themselves deliberately off balance.

When was the last time you deliberately and with agency, threw yourself off balance?