SUPport.
Hi friends,
Happy Sunday! Back on track!
For those wondering - I crossed the Chicago marathon finish line with so much support from so many of you!! It was an invigorating, joyful, beauty of a race and I could not be happier with how it turned out so…THANK YOU!!!
SUPport is our theme today.
sup - definition
verb: take by sips or spoonfuls.
noun: a sip
verb: eat supper
exclamation: what’s up? what’s happening? (informal greeting)
abbreviation: superior, superlative, supine, supplement, supply, Supra
port - definition
noun: a town or city with a harbor where ships load or unload
noun: a strong, sweet, typically dark red fortified wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine
noun: the side of a ship or aircraft that is to the left when facing forward
verb: to turn towards the port side (left)
noun: a suitcase or traveling bag
support - definition
verb: bear all or part of the weight
verb: give assistance to
verb: suggest the truth of
verb: endure, tolerate
noun: a thing that bears the weight of something
It’s funny. I have a math brain, so I always think in terms of math, and what I’m getting here is that just a little sip of dessert wine can help us bear the weight…no?
1+1 =2, ya?
Anyway…
Thank you for going through that exercise with me. I’d love to draw attention to a few things here:
Each word has various different meanings.
Those intended meanings can only be known given the circumstances within which the word is placed.
Each word can also behave differently and transform its part of speech given the set of circumstances it finds itself in.
We have two smaller words with very distinct meanings and uses that, when added together, become a completely new third word that shares none of the same meanings and only a couple of the same uses.
I am an Aquarius and if you haven’t figured that out by now…probably time to review your signs haha
I think it’s no mistake that “support” is made up of a word that means “a sip,” and “what’s happening?” as well as a word that means “turn towards,” and “a town or city where ships load and unload.”
I think what I’m driving at here is that if we want to give assistance and help endure, tolerate and bear all or part of the weight, first we need to turn towards the thing, ask what’s happening, take a sip of it and then be available for loading/unloading.
We need empathy.
empathy - definition
noun - the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
And it is not lost on me that both support and empathy have the words “share” and “give assistance” in their definitions.
You know what those words mean? We’re talking about something bigger than ourselves.
Those words mean AT LEAST one other person has entered the room.
And I think it’s really important to remember that (hopefully) often, we are not the only ones in the room.
We all know that feeling at the end of a Pilates class when the instructor says, “Okay everyone, let’s put your feet in the straps and start our leg circles.”
You start off excited, right? Leg circles feel great and maybe this is the moment you’ve been looking forward to all day!
But what is the person next to you going to do? Will you have space for your circles? Will they go super fast or super slow? Will they be willing to support your practice and coordinate with you?
And we all know what it feels like when that person DOES work with you and hold space for you.
…and we know what it feels like when they don’t.
Personally, I never want to be in the position where I’m preventing someone from completing their practice and robbing them of the thing they’ve spent all day dreaming about.
And I find that in creating space for their circles, I don’t even have to miss out on my own. I can do my circles just fine!
And I get the added bonus of remembering I’m not alone in a void - that there are other people around me who make space for me just as I make space for them.
Support.
It does have to go both ways.
If not, the the thing bearing all of the weight will eventually give.
Because nothing can endure being a brace forever.
Eventually, everything will need support, one way or another, no matter how strong.
And in that moment, there is a beautiful opportunity for transformation - a space where the thing that has been supporting is allowed to become something else based upon the circumstances it finds itself in.
Because none of us were ever meant to be only one thing.
We are all capable of multitudes and should be afforded and afford each other the ability to expand, explore and enjoy all of the variations of who and what we are.
…just like we do in our movement practices.
Words, movement and life…it’s all the same.
All my love, always.
C
