A Study In Sherlock Holmes: Awareness
Observations based on my spontaneous viewing of BBC's 'Sherlock'
A few weeks ago, I decided to be adventurous with my evening media streaming. Don’t ask me why or how it happened, but my brain was ready for something more stimulating than the millionth rerun of my go-to, anxiety-fighting sitcom or animated series. The BBC show ‘Sherlock’ appeared on my suggested algorithm. I had seen bits and pieces of it when it was on the air (actually, just one scene from one episode), and being a typical millennial woman who swoons over Benedict Cumberbatch, I decided to give it a go.
As a person who generally struggles with crime shows, let me tell you that this show is not for the faint of heart! It can be INTENSE, but the stories and the acting are so gripping, my brain just kept watching it, up to the series finale. Although my mediocre deduction skills remained unchanged while watching this series, it did teach me about the thing that leads us to deductions, and that is awareness. In the show, Sherlock’s observations are flashed onto the screen, usually in white text as he looks around, cluing the viewer in to his awareness. Sherlock alludes to it several times, and the viewer starts to understand, that his conclusions are not borne out of some other-worldly genius, but are merely a result of keen awareness to everything around him. Awareness of the surroundings, details of people’s appearance and demeanor, ambient sounds, the animals, everything. The “genius” of Sherlock is his ability to put all the pieces of his awareness together into a meaningful narrative (which consequently solves the mystery). I realized there are infinite things to be aware of in our average human existence. I would even go so far to that most of our daily observations are automatic, but we are often careless about them. We absorb the physical world without noticing it. We can deepen our awareness by labeling our observations and recognizing their residency in our conscious thought. This then helps us to see the details of the world, the patterns, the behaviors, and we can start to build a meaningful narrative, in whatever context we find ourselves.
The importance and necessity of awareness in our modern world is multi-faceted. Let me offer two contrasting examples.
When I am not writing I straddle two different professional worlds. One of emergency response, and the second of massage therapy. In emergency response awareness is an absolute necessity for 1) the responder’s safety 2) the public’s safety and 3) to produce a positive outcome for whatever matter they are responding to. If it’s a medical call, awareness of a patient’s appearance, and environment, and then some light investigation leads the first responder to deduct a potential cause for disease. They can then present a meaningful narrative to more advanced care and hopefully set that patient up for a positive outcome. In emergency response, situational awareness is crucial for safety and logic in life-saving situations.
In the world of massage therapy, practicing awareness is a tool for fine tuning a practitioner’s intuition. Massage therapy treatment is absolutely scientific, but it does contains an emotional and spiritual element that deserves to be recognized. Emotional and spiritual awareness begins with the senses. What does the client/patient look like? How is their posture? What are they telling you is their chief complaint? This helps the practitioner get to the science of what should probably happen during the massage session. Then as the work begins, a tactile observation may lead the practitioner to veer from their original plan. The observation allows them to begin to listen to the narrative their client’s body is wordlessly giving, rather than projecting their own narrative made up of selfish observations. A good practitioner allows this change to happen and gives in to the awareness that transcends the senses. Awareness beyond our physical senses is presence. In the massage treatment room, it is the presence, the connection between two beings that does most of the healing. We humans long for presence and connection, but we can’t achieve it without awareness. Allowing our awareness to take up residency in our consciousness, honoring them and the meaningful narrative they may provide leads us to presence. Presence in our own bodies and in relationship with the rest of our world.
So I ask you, and feel free to write in the comments: What are you aware of? Label your observations. Let them take up residency in your consciousness. What sort of narrative is produced?
On a different note, I am now beginning my journey down the Sherlock Holmes rabbit hole of the internet and paperbacks and may or may not make ‘A Study in Sherlock Holmes’ into a brief series. If there are any fellow Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts on this corner of the interwebs, give a shout!