Well, not completely new. I’ve considered it before. But I never really took it to heart.
The whole thing hit home when I heard Katie use an example of a turnaround that was not technically perfect, but which was actually quite meaningful.
The concept was, “She moved me too fast from question 3 to question 4.”
1. Turnaround to the self: “I moved me too fast from question 3 to question 4.”
2. Turnaround to the other: “I moved her too fast from question 3 to question 4.”
3. Turnaround to the opposite, “She didn’t move me too fast from question 3 to question 4.”
“I moved her too slow from question 4 to question 3.”
To my mind, that’s a total jumble. She changed three things: “she” to “I”, “fast” to “slow”, and “question 3” to “question 4.”
“It’s a double turnaround,” someone said. And I couldn’t agree more. I thought, “Katie doesn’t realize what she’s doing.” (Good worksheet, that one!)
But as I heard her explanation, it slowly dawned on me that I was the one who didn’t know what I was doing.
Katie did not feel bound by rules. She didn’t care if it was a turnaround to the self, or the other, or the opposite. She just started turning around any words she could find to see what she could come up with.
I saw her exploring the turnarounds like a child would explore them. Innocently playing with them, with no preconceived notions of how they should look.
And I wanted to join her. I wanted to step out of the stuffy, scientific laboratory of The Work, and out onto the playground of The Work, where there are no rules.
It gave me permission to explore even more freely with The Work.
“I moved her too slowly from question 4 to question 3.”
What a cool way of looking at it! If I (as a client) wanted more time in question three, why didn’t I ask for it? I never moved her back from question 4 to question 3.
So the turnaround is true: “I moved her too slowly from question 4 to question 3.”
There’s an innocence of surprise with that kind of turnaround. It’s so out-of-the-blue. No staleness there.
Meaning, it turns out, can be found in surprising places. And it gets me excited to look a bit more for non-standard turnarounds.
If I never explore all the options, how will I know I’m not missing some rare bird of a turnaround that makes everything clear, everything laughable?
Are your turnarounds restricted only to the basics? The safe ones? The standards?
Join me as I go forward and explore this world full of bright and unusual colors.
Have a great week,
Todd
Further reading: An Unusual Turnaround
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