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Cathie Geraci

Orientation - Disorientation

For me, prior to work with the Davis Method for Dyslexia, I thought of ‘orientation’ as the first days of attending college. Now, when I think of ‘orientation’, I know it means “putting oneself in the proper position in relation to the true facts and conditions of your surroundings” (from The Gift of Dyslexia, by Ron Davis). When we are orientated, we are perceiving accurately the true facts in our physical reality.

Aren’t we always perceiving the true facts in our physical reality? Nope, we are not. And when we are not perceiving accurately, we are disoriented or we are experiencing disorientation.

Have you ever been at a stop light and looking out your window and then suddenly feel like your car is moving , when it isn’t? It is actually the other car next to you moving. That is disorientation.

Have you ever been listening to someone speaking and are bored and start thinking about something else, when suddenly you realize you have completely missed a few sentences of the speaker? That is disorientation.

Have you ever been hiking near a cliff and looked over the edge and suddenly feel like you are falling, even if you are standing still? That is disorientation.

We all do it. We need to do it to think. We need to do it to create. We need to do it to solve problems. We need to do it to invent. We need to do it to escape painful emotions. In fact, we are all doing it all day long and we don’t really have awareness of it. For many of us, this lack of awareness is not a problem. If you are dyslexic. ADD or autistic, it sometimes is a problem.

In fact, your ability to disorientate often and deeply determines how gifted you are. If you do not disorientate often and deeply, you are pretty average. School was easy for you. You aren’t an artist, a dancer, an athlete, an entrepreneur, an engineer, an actor, an inventor, a writer, a musician or anything that requires deep creativity, visionary skills or problem solving skills to make a living from it. Most people of those professions are neurodiverse. They have dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADD, autism or at the very least, they didn’t love school.

This is why Ron Davis’ book is called The Gift of Dyslexia. The cause of the dyslexia is the person’s gift or talent for disorientating. Imagine what not perceiving the true facts of reality means when looking at letters and words.

Now that you know you are disorienting, the questions are what is doing this disorientating in my brain and where is this happening in my brain?

It all has to do with your mind’s eye. And, that is where we will begin next!

Author: Cathie Geraci. 5/1/22.

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