The Spiral Staircase

Oh goodness, two months since last entry. It has been a nice summer. Some limited but important healthcare/improv activities. There has been lots of planning for this upcoming academic year with some big events that will be filled with many laughs and lots of learning for all involved.

The most notable is Level 1 Introduction to Improv for Healthcare Providers is again being offered starting in August. This was one of the most meaningful experiences of last year. Please share with anyone you know in Omaha. It is a pretty significant time commitment, but I have yet to meet anyone who thought the juice was not worth the squeeze

Which brings me to today’s topic of discussion. Juice being worth the squeeze. I had a phenomenal discussion with a colleague, Eric Chase founder of EMSImprov.com. He brought up the importance of Engagement and how improv has increased metrics related to that. That was not an idea that I had considered. As we discussed, I had a number of thoughts. There was a moment of silence (which is uncomfortable in a 2 person zoom conversation) and then it all made sense to me. Engagement with the world and the people around you is a way for you to develop Empathy for the people you come across. Increased empathy leads to increasing Connection. Increasing Connection leads to increased sense of meaning and purpose to our lives and our activities. I discussed some of these ideas here…

As I reflected further, I thought that embracing vulnerability is what led to that engagement with the world. It takes vulnerability to get out of our comfort zone and engage with the world around us. I knew that embracing vulnerability was a big part of how improv has helped me in my personal and professional life. I had this slide (pictured below) from one of my very first improv workshops years ago when I also said reading or listening to Brene Brown sounds like another improv resource.

Her instructions and framing are perfect to get you ready for your first improv class. This discussion I had with Eric illuminated and gave words to that understanding I had long held without fully knowing why. The below slide has the talking point that I used to use when discussing it. The caption is how my understanding has evolved

Vulnerability -> Engagement -> Empathy -> Connection -> Meaning

It takes vulnerability to take an improv class. Once someone is in the theater, experiencing that vulnerability is required to engage in the exercises which are almost always outside of the familiar. It is required to understand the new feelings and new ideas as they come up because they are also often outside of the familiar. As these new experiences keep occurring, it becomes clear that there are many ideas and experiences where a surface level knowledge is woefully inadequate when forced to act them out on stage. Few things can replace that sensation when your well of understanding of a topic runs dry in front of people. What can be done in the midst of this new experience and nothing more than a dried up well of understanding. Find the part that is understood and build from there. This is the principle of Yes, and… to develop any connection possible with your scene partner and contribute from your principles and understanding to bend the scene closer to an area of deeper understanding. Together, two scene partners can make something out of nothing using this approach. The joy that springs from this connection is immediately felt by the performers and by all who are watching. Those that have performed improv know that that feeling of joy is addictive, meaningful, and also mystifying. I’ve asked myself how a scene was created many many times without coming to a reasonable answer. Stepping out onto stage from then on requires very little vulnerability because it is known what can happen when a mystical sense of connection and joy arises out of nowhere, sometimes referred to as The Flow State. The juice (meaningful experiences) is worth the squeeze (vulnerability).

As I start my day in the hospital, I will have the choice to hop on this path. I don’t quite know what to call this, but I am starting to understand the specific components of how improv has led to more happiness and connection in my personal and professional life

Improv forces this cycle to begin each time I engage in it. I have a show on 7/7 with people that I have performed with hundreds of times before, so I am starting at the 5th step. I am just going to go out make connections on stage to create meaning. I don’t know that I will get to the 7th step but that is the goal, and I know it occurs with this group at the highest frequency. I am trying to do more improv that starts at the 1st step however to get new experiences and make me better. I think each time I start over, it leads to a greater chance of reaching the 7th step. Starting new improv experiences takes less vulnerability than it did when I started 8 years ago but I still need to engage with this step. However, I know what is possible at the end having been through the process enough times.

 This spiral does not occur on its own in the real world and there is a lifetime’s worth of content to help with each of these steps. It is up to me to make the choice to jump on this spiral staircase each day. I will have to make the choice to be vulnerable, to engage and to put myself out into the world of my patients, leading to a deeper understanding and empathy of the many people I have the opportunity of helping, which leads to a sense of connection with my patients, followed by a sense of meaning in the work that I do. Hopefully, I do this enough and am able to teach these steps to medical students and the other members of the healthcare team. At the improv theater, I don’t really have the choice to engage or not engage. I may be nervous about engaging but the choice was made when I came to rehearsal or the performance. When I come to work each day, it is a choice that I must make, even when I am tired or there are other things on my mind. I hope that I can do it because that sense of connection with my patients gives how I spend my day meaning. The juice is worth the squeeze

Vulnerability will prevent Engagement when there is concern that the juice is NOT worth the squeeze. Improv has helped me eliminate that concern because I know that sense of connection that comes with understanding my patients brings joy and meaning out of even the most difficult situations. The more vulnerable I am, the more I can engage with the world and attempt to understand. This engagement will lead to a greater sense of empathy towards those around me. This empathy builds connections. Those connections are how I find meaning in my day to day life. Occasionally, in brief moments, these steps flow from one to the next without me fully understanding. Those brief moments in time at the top of this spiral bring me unbelievable happiness and fulfillment