Can Reflection and Action Coexist?

I receive a box of local produce a couple of times a month and the other night I was marinating thinly sliced zucchini to place as a garnish on risotto. As I would putter through the kitchen, I would reach over to stir the zucchini and notice the bright yellow circles of olive oil that had separated from the vinegar. It is curious how we intentionally decide to place oil and water together as a way to enjoy eating despite the fact that the combination will separate and we will have to make an effort to make the situation work. There are definite times that combining two opposites is what we prefer. Here I celebrate the bringing together of opposites.

This installment continues the article series, The Story of Natural Reflectors. Article 5 is from Part 1 that contains the first 6 articles on where we are in life today and how we got here. It is a hard part of the series that explores how we are addicted to action and how reflection is truly a good thing, but also why we are better off if reflection and action are used together to create a balance that only we can define and judge.

Laughter has been called great medicine. There is more data every year that defines how positive laughter can be in our lives. The Mayo Clinic reports there are short-term and long-term benefits. In the short term, laughing relieves stress by increasing our intake of oxygen to stimulate the heart, lungs, and muscles that in turn trigger our brain to release endorphins. The act of laughter suddenly increases our heart rate and blood pressure, which stimulates circulation throughout the body. Afterward, the decrease in heart rate and blood pressure causes the muscles to let go, giving us a good, relaxed feeling.

In the long term, the body will release natural painkillers more often. The additional release of stress helps our moods, our desire to connect with others, and our ability to cope with hard times. We are able to have more positive thoughts overall, which triggers the brain to release chemical signals that further prevent stress and support our immune system (Mayo Clinic, 2021).

It seems laughter is an important component to staving off burnout. So, why do people laugh and what does it take to make us laugh? From the body’s perspective, laughter is a release of our emotions. One common way to make people laugh is to tell a joke. The key to telling a joke people laugh at is to build anticipation that is suddenly released by a surprise (Lee, 2021). A good comedian will have his audience sitting upright and leaning in to see what is going to happen next. This is stressful and people pay good money to be stressed like this because of the surprise that leads to the release.

Look at a classic example.

Even with just a few words, a talented comedian leaves us wondering where they are going. Just as we settle in to follow them, the joke surprises us with a mental twist. I find my imagination continues the enjoyment by living the story they’ve created. I can feel how cramped I would be inside of a dog and how ridiculous it is to try to read in the dark. The comedian literally casts me into the water with the line and I am in another world. That moment of imagination is what makes the joke stick in my memory, has me laughing days later, and extends those long-term health benefits.

Laughter is a combination of opposites that creates an experience we desire.

Without the tension, we will not pay attention, and without the surprise, we will not laugh and release the tension. As we look to develop our own processes, it is good to look for opposites that will help us create strong methods to keep us engaged but also bring us joy. Often our culture considers reflection and action to be opposites that do not go together, but just as one cannot have laughter without tension, our actions are not strong in the long term unless there is reflection.

To me, then, reflection or action could be viewed as tools in a toolbox that can be brought into a process as needed. That sat well with me and I felt others would appreciate that, so I kept asking others the same question. Can reflection and action coexist?

I started to accumulate examples of how people utilized separate times of reflection and action within their processes. I wanted to find someone who could explain how to use reflection and action at the same time. I finally found Stacy Levy.

Stacy Levy is a sculptor who works with the natural patterns of nature within an urban environment. She began her career in urban forestry with more constraints than she preferred and found becoming an environmental artist more freeing. I asked her how much she dealt with the idea of gut versus head and reflection versus action in her design process.

“I’ve never separated the reflection versus the action, because I am performing the action and reflecting very simultaneously. It’s rare there’s action without reflection going on at the same time. Your right hand is reaching to stick something in there. Your left hand is going, ‘Hmmm, is that…maybe?’ So, unless we’ve vetted everything and…there’s sort of nothing else materials can do except fit into these places, I think there’s always reflection that goes on.”

Simultaneously? I dug further to see if this happens more often than I realized. I had not noticed because those who do it switch back and forth so quickly we cannot see it. It literally happens in the moment. How many times has a teacher changed the lesson for the day based on a question from the class? Or an ER nurse completely changed treatment based on how the patient responded? Or a writer took the story in a different tangent due to a new muse? Or the design of a product changed during the sketches in ideation?

Levy describes this as, ‘“It’s like you’re pushing a ball. You’re not gripping the thing, but you’re pushing it and it’s rolling in places and you’re guiding it, but it may go somewhere you didn’t expect and you continue to guide it. But you listen to what this big sphere moving through your piece is saying, which is, ‘This doesn’t work or this is better when it’s like this,’ and you try and do as much change as you can to the piece.”

To some, this may sound far too chaotic. Levy gives a reason to try.

“You have to always leave room for changing your direction. You start setting something up [and see] ‘This really doesn’t look that good. We got to change this.’ If you are nervous about the outcome, then you are likely in the right place. I have to be open for that. I think that’s what artists bring to the table is a) we’re much more risk-taking and b) we’re much more into the idea there is a better idea that could be embraced midway in the process. Possibility comes with risk.”

There is comfort in a repeatable process that lets us assume the outcome is repeatable—like baking a cake. The truth is the outcome is dependent on so many variables that are out of our control. When I take Levy’s advice, I encourage myself as I plan to make space for where the process may take a right turn and to also become open to the potential of how beautiful the unplanned outcome may be. If I let this be my mindset, I then am able to receive so much more.

If this resonates with you, I hope that you will follow this weekly article series over the next couple of months as I share excerpts of my book, Natural Reflectors. The next article in the series, Is it Truly Better to Rebel Against the System?, can be found here. The previous article in the series, The Benefits of Reflection, can be found here.

For more information, connect with me at @jennifer.theblacklab or my website www.jenniferpeavey.com .

Natural Reflectors is published as of August 30, 2021. Here's the link to snag your own copy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DFNLLDW

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Larkin, Bob. “50 Amazing Jokes from Comedy Legends.” Best Life Online. April 3, 2018. https://bestlifeonline.com/50-amazing-jokes-from-comedy-legends/ .

Lee, Hulbert. “How to Tell a Funny Joke.” LifeHack. Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-tell-a-funny-joke.html .

Mayo Clinic. “Stress Management.” Accessed May 6, 2021. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456 .