The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

I had my breakfast with a Sarawakian senior this morning and he shared with me this very meaningful book - "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything".

Just surfed the net and extracted a story to share with everyone of our friends and valued customers.

To us, the story looks so familiar, as there are similarities between the story and our cases. Let's have a look!

(Extracted from: "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything" - Chapter One)

Gillian was only eight years old, but her future was already at risk. Her schoolwork was a disaster, at least as far as her teachers were concerned. She turned in assignments late, her handwriting was terrible, and she tested poorly. Not only that, but she was a disruption to the entire class, one minute fidgeting noisily, the next staring out the window, forcing the teacher to stop the class to pull Gillian’s attention back, and the next doing something to disturb the other children around her. Gillian wasn’t particularly concerned about any of this - she was used to being corrected by authority figures and really didn’t see herself as a difficult child - but the school was very concerned. This came to a head when the school wrote to her parents.

The school thought that Gillian had a learning disorder of some sort, and that it might be more appropriate for her to be in a school for children with special needs. All of this took place in the 1930s. I think now they’d say she had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and they’d put her on Ritalin or something similar. But this was the 1930s, and the ADHD epidemic hadn’t been invented at the time. It wasn’t an available condition. People didn’t know they could have that and had to get by without it.

Gillian’s parents received the letter from the school with great concern and sprang to action. Gillian’s mother put her daughter in her best dress and shoes, tied her hair in ponytails, and took her to a psychologist for assessment, fearing the worst.

Gillian told me that she remembers being invited into a large oak-paneled room with leather-bound books on the shelves. Standing in the room next to a large desk was an imposing man in a tweed jacket. He took Gillian to the far end of the room and sat her down on a huge leather sofa. Gillian’s feet didn’t quite touch the floor, and the setting made her wary. Nervous about the impression she would make, she sat on her hands so that she wouldn’t fidget.

The psychologist went back to his desk, and for the next twenty minutes, he asked Gillian’s mother about the difficulties Gillian was having at school and the problems the school said shewas causing. While he didn’t direct any of his questions at Gillian, he watched her carefully the entire time. This made Gillian extremely uneasy and confused. Even at this tender age, she knew that this man would have a significant role in her life. She knew what it meant to attend a “special school,” and she didn’t want anything to do with that. She genuinely didn’t feel that she had any real problems, but everyone else seemed to believe she did. Given the way her mother answered the questions, it was possible that even she felt this way.

Maybe, Gillian thought, they were right.

Eventually, Gillian’s mother and the psychologist stopped talking. The man rose from his desk, walked to the sofa, and sat next to the little girl.

“Gillian, you’ve been very patient, and I thank you for that,” he said. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to be patient for a little longer. I need to speak to your mother privately now. We’re going to go out of the room for a few minutes. Don’t worry; we won’t be very long.”

Gillian nodded apprehensively, and the two adults left her sitting there on her own. But as he was leaving the room, the psychologist leaned across his desk and turned on the radio.

As soon as they were in the corridor outside the room, the doctor said to Gillian’s mother, “Just stand here for a moment, and watch what she does.” There was a window into the room, and they stood to one side of it, where Gillian couldn’t see them. Nearly immediately, Gillian was on her feet, moving around the room to the music. The two adults stood watching quietly for a few minutes, transfixed by the girl’s grace. Anyone would have noticed there was something natural - even primal - about Gillian’s movements. Just as they would have surely caught the expression of utter pleasure on her face.

At last, the psychologist turned to Gillian’s mother and said, “You know, Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.”

I asked Gillian what happened then. She said her mother did exactly that. “I can’t tell you how wonderful it was,” she told me. “I walked into this room, and it was full of people like me. People who couldn’t sit still. People who had to move to think.”

She started going to the dance school every week, and she practiced at home every day. Eventually, she auditioned for the Royal Ballet School in London, and they accepted her. She went on to join the Royal Ballet Company itself, becoming a soloist and performing all over the world. When that part of her career ended, she formed her own musical theater company and produced a series of highly successful shows in London and NewYork. Eventually, she met Andrew Lloyd Webber and created with him some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, including Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.

Little Gillian, the girl with the high-risk future, became known to the world as Gillian Lynne, one of the most accomplished choreographers of our time, someone who has brought pleasure to millions and earned millions of dollars. This happened because someone looked deep into her eyes - someone who had seen children like her before and knew how to read the signs. Someone else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down. But Gillian wasn’t a problem child. She didn’t need to go away to a special school.

She just needed to be who she really was.

Gillian Lynne
Cats and The Phantom of the Opera Choreographers

讓天賦自由

今早與一位砂拉越的學長吃早餐，他介紹了這本極富意義的書《讓天賦自由》。

剛從網上瀏覽，並摘錄一則故事與各位朋友分享與共勉……

這些故事對我們而言，都是那麼的熟悉，因為與我們所接觸到的案例，都有共同點，那就是……（一起來看故事吧！）

（摘錄自：《讓天賦自由》【第1章】－－找出天賦與熱情）

吉莉安才八歲，前途已經出現危機。她的功課一塌糊塗，起碼在學校老師的眼中是如此。她老是遲交作業，筆跡潦草，考試成績也差。不僅如此，她還經常影響課堂的進行，不是動來動去發出噪音，就是猛盯著窗外看，老師得被迫暫停教課，把吉莉安的注意力拉回來，但她卻又開始干擾身邊的小朋友。吉莉安自己倒是一點也不在意，她早已習慣被大人糾正，也絲毫不認為自己是問題兒童，但校方卻十分憂心。等到學校發函給家長的時候，事態才開始顯得嚴重。

學校認為吉莉安有某種學習障礙，也許比較適合轉往特殊教育學校。 當時還是一九三○年代，若是現在，吉莉安可能會被判斷患有＂注意力缺失過動症＂（ADHD），讓她服用利他能（Ritalin）或其他治療過動症的藥物。不過在當時，尚未得知過動症是一種疾病，沒有現成的治療方式，患者也不知道可以用藥物協助治療。

吉莉安的父母收到學校信函，擔憂之際也立刻採取行動。媽媽懷著忐忑不安的心情帶她去讓心理醫師診斷。

必須舞動身體才能思考

吉莉安告訴我，記憶中，心理醫師花了二十分鐘詢問媽媽，了解吉莉安在學校的問題，以及學校認為她造成哪些困擾。當媽媽和醫生終於談完了，醫生從書桌邊起身，走向沙發，坐在小女孩身邊。

他說：「吉莉安，你剛才都很乖，謝謝你。不過你還得再乖乖待一會兒，現在我要跟妳媽媽單獨講話，我們要出去幾分鐘。別擔心，我們很快就回來。」

吉莉安有些惶惑地點點頭，兩個大人便讓她獨自坐在那兒。醫生走出房間的時候，傾身把書桌後面的收音機打開。

他們一走到外面的走廊，醫生就對吉莉安的媽媽說：「請在這裡站一會兒，觀察她做些什麼。」那兒有扇窗可以看進房間，但吉莉安看不到他們這一邊。幾乎就在同時，吉莉安已經起身，隨著音樂在房間四處遊走。兩個大人靜靜站著觀察了幾分鐘，小女孩的優雅身段讓他們屏氣凝神。任何人都看得出來，吉莉安的動作具有某種渾然天成，甚至可說是原始的成分，而她臉上那樣純然愉悅的神情也再明顯不過。

最後，醫生轉頭對媽媽說：「妳知道了吧？林恩太太，吉莉安沒有病，她只是有跳舞的天分，帶她去上舞蹈課吧！」

吉莉安開始每週上舞蹈課，每天在家裡練舞。後來，前途曾經充滿危機的小女孩吉莉安，最後成為享譽全球的吉莉安．林恩（Gillian Lynne），她結識了韋伯（Andrew Lloyd Webber），並和他合力創造了幾齣史上最成功的音樂劇，包括「貓」與「歌劇魅影」。她成為極負盛名的當代編舞家，曾為無數人帶來歡樂，也為自己累積了財富。這都是因為某個人看進了她的心靈深處，某個人曾經見過跟她一樣的孩子，並且懂得解讀其中的意義。如果換成其他人，或許會讓她吃藥，要求她不要亂動。但吉莉安根本不是問題兒童，也不需要轉到特殊教育學校。

她只是需要展現真正的自我。

吉莉安‧林恩（Gillian Lynne）
著名音樂劇《貓》與《歌劇魅影》當代編舞家