How Your Context Changes Your Life

And why you should dance like nobody's watching.

More than ever, we live in a world where the only thing that’s economically valuable about us is our minds. I find this sad, because it means we ignore the wider context that we live in. Instead we just focus on what’s going on in our heads.

1.

The power of dancing like nobody’s watching.

This problem is best illustrated by the story of Gillian Lynne, a renowned dancer and choreographer of hit Broadway shows like Cats and Phantom of the Opera.

Young Gillian was what you might call a problem child. When she was at school in the 1930s, she just couldn’t sit still. Her behaviour was apparently so disruptive that teachers thought she had a defect of moral control. Sounds pretty grim.

Desperate to help her, Gillian’s mom took her to a doctor, where something interesting happened. The doctor invited Gillian’s mom to leave the room with him, and on the way out he turned on the radio.

Peering into the window from outside the room, they saw Gillian dancing and completely engrossed in the music. That…