Mental Moment-In Theory
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about writing a book. I talked about how challenging it is to write a book because books give theory but not (usually) application and I want to be able to provide application.
I teach graduate studies. Teaching is similar. Students need theory but theory isn’t any good if they don’t know how to apply it. I am finding that students are not learning what I like to call reality-application. In my mind its easy to talk theory. The research has been done. I don’t really need to think about it. In theory-application though I need to have real world experiences. This takes time and I think can be more difficult to talk about than theory. We are each different so the way we think about, process and talk about things is different. It takes a creative approach to get students in their own minds & bodies thinking for themselves.
As a performer I could give you a technique that will help alleviate anxiety but that might not help you; it’s not specific to you or your situation. And if you are hearing this information for the first time it’s going to sound like the only solution, THE solution; except that in reality there are many others. As a performer not only is it important to find an option that best fits you and develop a plan around it but its important to get some guidance with your reality-application experience. What if THE plan doesn’t work? Well you feel like if it doesn’t work, there’s nothing else so why bother.
This feeling of ‘it doesn’t work, there’s nothing else so why bother’ is common with almost all of my clients. All of my Olympic athletes have heard a sports psychologist speak. My other clients have read book after book after book and the sentiments are similar: in reality, how do I apply this so it has a positive impact on my performance.
Depending on the situation, in order to be effective, theory may be necessary (although you can read that in a book) but reality-application on the other hand IS necessary. You can’t act without it.
Happy Tuesday!
Dr. Michelle Cleere
