• previous post
• next post

Spontaneity

• July 3rd, 2006

This week I had the pleasure of acting on a natural impulse without constraint. It was wonderful; in fact I’m still smiling about the experience. A friend and I were hanging out on my front porch. I had just started a new book and I was sharing certain passages I really liked by reading them out loud. I could tell she liked being read to so I moved from passages to the entire chapter. We then started taking turns reading to each other and before you know it we had covered five chapters. The book was The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert and we were totally immersed in the story of Mr. Eustace Conway. As we watched the sun set we starting talking about how cool it would be if we could meet him or better yet if we could expose him to all the staff at the organization that we both are employed within. And then it happened, total unadulterated spontaneity, I picked up the phone and I called him and asked if he would come to our next agency wide retreat in September. Just like that, impulsive, natural and without constraint. We were both thrilled when he said yes!

I’ve been thinking about this small act of spontaneous behavior and wondering about how available similar experiences are to people with disabilities who receive support from systems such as the one I work in. I suspect there is not a great deal of opportunity in a culture of support that by definition thrives on constraint and punishes natural impulses. Everything planned in advance, approved in advance, assessed in advance and if we could we would implement in advance, just to save time. I remember visiting the country of Denmark many years ago and visiting some of the organizations that offered support to people with disabilities. I was amazed they provided cleaning services free of charge to folks because “picking strawberries in the springtime was more important” or having time to “just gaze at a fire on a winter night” was paramount to having a good life. But what I remember most was a staff member telling me that you must always create time for spontaneity or why have a life? Indeed, why have a life if you can not direct it at a moments notice, with wild abandonment, and no constraints… maybe that is what the mission should be at my agency, not something neat and practical, but unrestrained spontenaity. Now that’s a freedom worth celebrating!