Vaibhav, a young IT pro, came from Mumbai. It is just 3 hours by road! We watched some videos, discussed, practiced a few skills together- then, went for lunch and ‘bounced’ along the way! Vaibhav gave me a very useful analogy; while learning to drive a bike- he recalled, that he used to release clutch a little early; as a result bike used to jump and then stall! It took him some time to master the fine coordination between relaesing clutch, giving gas and letting go! When we start talking- something similar needs to happen; so we have coined a new watchword: release clutch slowly! Once you are airborne in your speech, it doesn’t matter!
Then, Vaibhav helped me with some IT tasks. Finally, after some coaching about dealing with interviews, he left by the evening bus for Mumbai. Later, Vivek and Rahil visited us. Both are quite knowledgeable about stammering. We discussed about what could be the limits of “self-exposure”. Should we go out of our way to tell people that we stammer? The problem is- mind is very subtle in sabotaging any effort which threatens status quo. Denial returns in subtle ways. Old fears come back in many “logical” and “rational” arguments. And yes, others’ privacy too has to be respected. So, we are sure, very creative and acceptable ways can be found of being at peace with who we are..
Okay, now release the clutch slooooowly.. and off you go!
2 thoughts on “Release clutch slowly: Day 4 at Pune”
admin
(October 13, 2010 - 5:34 am)Mahatma Gandhi had said- " There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."
We all know 3 mistakes that lead to stuttering are:
1.Hasty or fast speech,
2.Distorted or no breathing while talking,
3.Talking in excitement.
We have to keep ourself reminded of the above while working on our speech.
admin
(October 14, 2010 - 1:12 pm)i second jasbir above, very valid arguments. the initial attempt to change our speech patterns is bound to meet with failures but once you get used to it, sky's the limit.
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