About

“It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

— Muhammad Ali

Welcome to A Rock in Your Shoe

A site dedicated to taking a new and bigger perspective on Life, by cultivating the everyday wisdom at hand. In this case, a rock in your shoe.

And certainly, the rock or pebble can be a draining annoyance, but that is just one option; it can also be a persistent message of awareness — a way Life is speaking to you, calling your attention.

However you frame the rock is up to you.

I tend to think of it as an Invitation. And sometimes being worn out or inflamed is part of the process, part of the yet unknowable next step. Part of what makes you stronger in the break down for break through — true for muscles and psyches, butterflies and civilizations.

A Sociology of Awareness invokes a gentler stance. As a methodology of inclusion, it takes an appreciative approach to Life — bringing loving attention, and a sense of curiosity  to the Rock in your Shoe — whatever, or whomever it may be. Always remembering, the Rock was just the Messenger, a placeholder for next steps.

May we learn to appreciate the rocks, and pebbles, in our lives and shoes.

With Love,

LVL

***

A Rock in Your Shoe

A rock in your shoe,
A thorn in your side,
or paw….

The endless poking and prodding.
The “pay attention to me” of discomfort.

Tho it seems we are selective about the irritants,
(and cliches)
we use for inspiration.
Preferring a bee in a bonnet,
or a well placed burr
to kick-start this Horse of Life.

Yes, somehow those seem more useful,
more welcome.
But whether it is a rock, or thorn, or bee, or burr –
It is only an Invitation from Life:

**Bring Awareness Here**

Where “here” is not a person, place, or thing.
Nor a situation,
with endless details to piss you off,
or details you will retell
because you are convinced there has been some grave injustice done to you
by this Rock in Your Shoe.

No.

This Here is not A Story About.
It is, rather, what lives under the thing you habitually focus on,

hope to ignore,

deaden,

or extract.

This Here is simply the glorious grinding of sensation –
as you rub up against yourself,
as you find a new or old edge
to who you really are

This Here is Life.

***

I have come to love a rock in my shoe
On days of dissolution and despair
it gently holds my hand.

The grinding as sweet caress –
Sometimes this is the most consistent and known thing;
the feeling that keeps me company,
reminds me I am alive.

And a rock in your shoe could be your new best friend;
Beyond the familiarity of its aggravation.
It says:

Look here

Lean in

This, too, is Welcome.

And all you can say to any Rock in your Shoe
is:

Thank You
Yes
I love you.

LVL©2009

***

Linda Van Leuven, Ph.D.

Sociologist. Artist. Human.

Linda Van Leuven, Ph.D. (“LVL”)  is a sociologist, writer, and teacher.  She views sociology as a transformational science, and practices it as an art. A recipient of the Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award (TA) at UCLA — her educational approach has been branded by students as “the LVL Experience.”

LVL takes an ethnographic approach to Life, and has developed a corresponding methodology for appreciating Life’s revealing. She brings this practice of Sociological Awareness to everyday subjects — teaching classes on Sexuality, Gender, and Self from a bigger perspective — from a sense of integration and wholeness.

She also embraces complexity in her studies of social interaction, and has written articles about personalized service work, workplace sexualization, negotiating relational boundaries, and the shifting suburban metropolis. Her work has appeared in scholarly collections and urban style magazines, and includes her B&W photography. She likes to combine unusual materials — genres, artifacts, and ideas — to reframe the boundaries of conception. She takes this same approach in editing, and has Co-Edited the literary journal, TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism.  In addition to teaching, writing, and editing, one of her favorite jobs was selling high-end designer eyewear and new perspectives; through customer service encounters, she learned more about the human condition, self-concept, power, and interaction than in any book. She lives in Long Beach, Ca., and shares the path with her Border Collie/Retriever mix, Maizie and their cat, Maya.

To learn more about LVL, visit http://lindavanleuven.com