Surrendering to the flow of life, one could find the mind in a slightly embarrassing, humorous realization – life keeps moving perfectly well without the need to consult the mind.
The mind, however, prefers to believe it is the executive producer, director, and script writer of every moment. After an action happens, it quickly sends out a press release explaining how “I decided,” “I planned,” or “I made this happen.” Meanwhile, life has already moved three steps ahead on the chessboard. The humor lies in how seriously the ego mind takes its role in its attempts to override and claim ownership of the script.
The ego mind’s narration gives the illusion of control. Something happens, the body responds, words come out, and then the mind rushes in to claim authorship, demanding an award for a movie it didn’t actually direct. Because its commentary appears so fast, it often feels convincing. But once attention slows, the timing of what is unfolding is clear, and it becomes obvious that action comes first, narration second. It helps to think of the ego mind as a late reporter arriving after the event, explaining what “we meant to do.”
Humor becomes essential once the mind’s pattern is recognized. Without humor, the mind interprets the surrender to the flow of life as a loss of its imaginary control panel. Without humor, the ego becomes withdrawn and tries to maintain its dignity, while life naturally rearranges itself around the ego’s mind’s temper tantrums. And the more seriously the ego mind takes itself, the funnier the situation becomes. Mastering this perception loosens the ego mind’s grip and allows for creation to express itself through the body.
Life’s improvisation is wildly creative and often exhilarating; it requires a sense of humor. Sudden meetings, unexpected turns and plot twists in life, synchronicities, storms that reroute journeys.
Conversations that change everything.
A sense of humor allows one to relax into improvisation rather than trying to rewrite the play, thereby limiting creative expression. In this relaxation, life is no longer a problem to manage with bullets to dodge; it becomes more of a live performance on a movie screen – improvised in real time. There is no pressure to direct but to in-joy, the most incredible script, improvised every moment.
A moment never repeated. Always new, beautifully and intelligently improvised.