soaker seats

If you've ever been to Sea World, you know that when
you go to see the performance of the killer whales (a
spectacular display of leaping majesty), the lower
down in the amphitheater you sit--the closer to the
so-called soaker seats--the more likely it is you'll
get wet. When you sit in the upper part of the
amphitheater, you have an entirely different
perspective of the proceedings. You aren't directly
involved, and you can see the whale beneath the
surface before it launches itself miraculously into
the air. You can see the moment when the body of this
enormous creature floats for a split second in the air
before the laws of gravity return it to its natural
habitat. And you can watch the disturbance in the
crowd below as soaked humans shriek, leap up, grimace,
and shake themselves off. It is possible from the
upper levels to observe the full dynamic of the
process--and not get the least bit wet. This is what
the watcher allows too. You observe and you understand
what's happening, but you don't get lost in the
emotional reaction.

When you engage the watcher, it's as though you are
split into two characters. The part of you that's
seated in the soaker section--we'll call him Hey!--is
getting totally drenched by the whale as it hits the
water. Hey! is experiencing the shock, the fear, the
frustration, and the discomfort of the soaking, but he
is also not doing what he would normally do: jumping
up out of his seat and yelling at the top of his
lungs. Meanwhile, the other part of you, whom we'll
call Be, is seated high up in the amphitheater,
looking down and watching the soaking as it happens.
Both parts are communicating with each other
throughout the proceedings. From time to time Be is
asking Hey!, "What are you experiencing right now?"
and Hey! is giving reports to Be of all the thoughts
and feelings that arise as he sits there in tension,
overriding his reflexive impulse to leap and shout. As
the water settles back down, Hey! discovers that he is
unscathed but for the wetness. With the assistance of
Be, he has put in place new conditioning that
contradicts the belief that to sit still and not react
as usual might be life-threatening. The old belief is
thus drained of its power.

So when you find yourself in life's soaker seats,
allow your watcher to head for higher ground and take
a look at things from that position for a while. It
will allow you to see the more complete picture. The
wetness--those emotional reactions--you are
experiencing is only the result of one of your inner
killer whales--your conditioned patterns--rising above
the surface and making a splash in the middle of your
life.

This is where it is absolutely crucial to remember
that the world isn't doing all of this stuff to you.
It's your show, taking place in your amphitheater. And
so when you shift your state--when you calm down, slow
down, and head for higher ground--so does your waking
dream because it always perfectly reflects your inner
state. This doesn't mean your life is completely uneventful.
There can still be lots of stuff happening, but you aren't
upset by it because you are able to look down on it rather
than getting soaked all the time.

Sarah Susanka - not so big life

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This is very interesting to me, this shapeshifting the watcher part of us. It's interesting because I have always known my watcher. I can't remember a time when my awareness didn't split off into two distinct regions. More time and energy than I would like was spent focusing on the soaker seat pespective from early on, but there was enough of a presence there from the upper seats that I have movies in my head of many, many childhood and adulthood moments, from outside my body, watching the memory from above. While it has occured to me that other people do not share this aspect of their psyches with me, it never really sunk in until reading this section of Susanka's work how many probably don't.

I call it a blessing, then, to have this perspective at my disposal, now more often, than not. I can attribute massive swathing of old neurpathways to its presence, and my life has become less populated with killer whales because of it. But f@!k the soaker seats--I wanna get in the friggin' pool.