111. Not a Finishing School
“The idea of finishing a movement means that we have lost sight of our means-whereby.”(Taken from “Irene Tasker: Her Life and Work” p250)
107. No Frying Fish
“People that haven’t any fish to fry, they see it all right.”(Taken from “Articles and Lectures” – Teaching Aphorisms p205)
99. End-gaining and Means-whereby
“In class on Thursday FM was good on end-gaining and means-whereby. He said that when you get up in the morning you know that you are coming to town but you don’t allow this knowledge to hinder you from carrying out the normal routine of getting dressed, having breakfast and so. So with getting into or out of a chair.”(Taken from “A Time to Remember” – p17)
81. On Learning
In 1924 a child whose parents were in India was sent to Alexander for lessons. He was nervous and excitable and Alexander felt that he needed daily help in employing the new use of himself in his schoolwork. Other parents who were themselves having lessons asked for the same kind of help for their children, and a class was set up to provide academic instruction for them, “upon the principle,” Alexander wrote, “that the end for which they are working…
73. Ends Come of Themselves
Six or seven places in my books I have made a remark which no one ever seems to remember, and that is that ends come of themselves. When you sit down you are in too much of a hurry to do so. You drive right for the end. Don’t think about the end! Don’t think about sitting down! What you do want to do, however, is to think of the means that are right for you to attain the end….
72. What We Are Doing To Ourselves
When we set out to do a thing, getting it done is not the really important thing. Rather, what is, above all, important, is to pay attention to what we are doing to ourselves while in the process of doing that which we set out to do.F.M. Alexander as recounted by Goddard Binkley (“The Expanding Self” p90)
How to Succeed Without Trying
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.” – W. C. Fields We’re one week into the Olympics in Rio, so there’s already been a lot of trying, and some succeeding, going on over there. Sport is certainly one area where the “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” philosophy gets a run, but it is certainly applied in many other areas of life as…