Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves — Adam Phillips
Many of us complain that work meetings are predictable, frustrating and — most of all — a terrible drain on our limited time. In theory, organisations want their meetings to be full of life. In practice, not so much.
In fact, frustration may be the most common thing meeting attendees have in common, but they rarely speak about openly. They prefer to play safe, keep emotions at bay, and pay the price for politeness in boredom. And save our grumbling for the water cooler, or long suffering friends and family.
And our stuck meetings feel even more stuck as a result. Indeed, the surface appearance is that nothing can change.
Yet with a bit of play, we may find that just below the rigid surface lies a whole brew of emotion and feeling. This is where the real aliveness is, just below the surface. If we’re brave enough to meet it, the ground doesn’t usually swallow us up — and we get a chance to bring the meeting, and ourselves, back to life.
