When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin, Einstein said,“What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You don’t say a word, yet the world understands you!”
Silent film star Charlie Chaplin epitomizes the power of nonverbal communication. Think about it for a moment: he mastered the use of facial expressions and body language to convey messages in a medium where words were not an option. He did so to such a degree that in 1998 – well into the age when words, music, and CGI could tell the story in the movies – film critic Andrew Sarris called Chaplin “arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most universal icon”.
Chaplin can help us understand what we were talking about last week: the importance of showing up. When you show up there will be a language spoken, even if words are not. As in Chaplin’s day, it will be the language of your body. Experiences and feelings are expressed by your movements, your posture, your silence, and your stillness. Continue reading
We have all heard the saying, “It hurt too much to cry.” What you don’t hear as often is the idea that there could exist a pain so great that to talk about it seems unbearable. It is the feeling that the act of verbalizing an experience would cause such hopelessness and shame it would be impossible to endure it.
Last week, we talked about winter being a natural time of reflection and introspection. I gave you 5 questions to consider to help you use winter as your own season of contemplation. It is important to remember that this process only works if you give it time.