Trusting instinct

I recently had an incident with a business associate that reminds me of how true and important what improv teaches is.

This person sent up my "Spidey-senses" from the get. Everything in me told me not to trust him. My instinct said "no". And being an improv teacher, I'm a big "yes" person, so you can imagine my dilemma. I wanted to say yes to what he offered. I should say yes. So, I said yes.

But it just goes to prove that in improv, as in life, there are no rules. Everytime you think you can make one (saying 'yes' for example) something comes along and disproves the theory. So, I said yes to this person in my life, but I stayed present to my feelings and instincts and tried to pay close attention to the "Scene" of my interactions with him. Well, turns out, your instinct is never wrong when listened to without self-imposed filters. He turned out to be a big fat liar. I knew it from the start and got out before more damage was done.

What's cool about improv and life is that there are no rules to follow, with which to turn off your instinct and present moment awareness and just say 'hey, I'm following the rules". We have to listen, trust ourselves, and follow through with what our instincts and impulses tell us, not follow a rule book. We make up our own book as we go along. It's easier than it sounds. It's just doing less and imposing less. It's feeling more and listening more. And oh, yes, it's also about remembering that improv, like life, is supposed to be "play" not "work".

wax on, wax off.