The Gyre

The ever widening circle of your life

I have always made myself lists. I’m a list maker and list ticker offerer, and a list throw awayer. Sometimes they work, and some time they don’t, depending, funnily enough, on if I honestly believe in the list.

I think I’ve found a way to increase my belief in my list making. And here it is – the gyre.

I also think it will be helpful in introducing social awareness and our interconnectedness to our world at large.

A gyre is a circle, a vortex, expanding or contracting and descriptive model for its current purposes.

I don’t have the soft ware to present it to you as I would like, but here is the gist of the thing.

In the centre, as we all know, is ME.

For the purpose of the display, and not to be egotistical in any way shape or form, I will use my own name as the first example.

From now on, it will be known as ‘Tiffany’s Gyre’.


Tiffany’s Gyre

As stated, the centre of the vortex is me.

Tiffany
Around the immediate centre, is the things I believe to make up me. These include my physical self, my mental self and my spiritual self.

Now, each one of these selves can be looked at more deeply. For example, Tiffany’s physical self and her relationship/responsibility to it. So, I write down that I like to practice yoga daily and qigong when I have the time.

I may like to include, on further reflection, that I like to have massage, indulge in toe cleaning at regular intervals, and tooth brushing. So on and so forth. You can see how each list can expand with refection. Some of these things we do without giving thought or time to (toothbrushing) and others, we need to find time during our day for (yoga).

So we make a choice with the limited time that we have.

By writing down and becoming aware of each need and demand of the body, we can start to make effective choices about what we spend our time on. We get to know ourselves a little better with every stroke of the pen.

It may seem rather obvious at this level, but as we move further outwards into our gyre, you will see the benefits of awareness and subsequent increased choice.

The second circle, I have titled Immediate Circle of Responsibility. You may call yours what seems more appropriate for your lifestlye. For me, this includes the house I am living in and the people I am living with. The duties/responsibilities to each entity needs to be looked at and clearly understood, if we are not to be a victim of letting time pass us by and not saying and doing the things we ought to have done.

Increased consciousness of our selves and our relationships enhance our life quality. This is a fact.

The third circle is called the Second circle of responsibility. This circle includes, for me, friends. Of course, each subgroup can be further explored and taken into consideration. I will do an example of how to further explore a group at the end of the post.

The fourth circle is Society’s Circle, and includes my area Helensvale, the library and community centre.

The fifth group is the wider community circle – and includes the gold coast city council, my state, my country, my geographical position in the world and then, finally, my responsibility and relationship to the world.

Exploring a link.

Let’s take an easy example.

In my second circle Immediate Circle of Responsibility, I have my mother. I have to put the situation into context. I’m spending one year living very close to my mother, but usually we have half the world between us. To make the best use of the time, I need to be fully aware that at this time next year, I will not be seeing her. I have no plans to come back and see her in the foreseeable future.

So, when I think of my relationship towards my mother, I try to understand the things that I like and the things that I see as my duty, or my responsibility towards her.

Perhaps, even if I don’t have the time of the will, I will sit with her and discuss her boredom with life, or her lack of employment skills for her age, or her worries about her other children and grandchildren. At the same time, I encourage an opening of her mind to subjects I think she should consider, like fair trade coffee, and volunteering on the Gold Coast.

Perhaps I’ll offer to make dinner. Or help her in the garden. Small things that if I didn’t sit and write about and consider in a rational way, I would overlook.

Some other examples are easier to follow through.

My relationship to the world.

What is it? How do I feel about the world at large? Do I care about the entity of the world? Well, there are a lot of people who do, and I can, with the aid of the internet, become aware of their concerns and see if I also think similarly. Perhaps I’ll even be open minded enough to take on a new concern, if I am aware of issues at a world scale.

But, I wouldn’t know anything if I didn’t have my self in the centre, and an ever increasing circle of awareness developing around me.

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