Entrain: “To draw along with or after oneself.” ~ Merriam-Webster
Entrainment is syncing our rhythms with someone else’s. Women who live or work very, very close to one another will entrain to another or several women’s menstrual cycles.
We are all easily drawn into other people’s rhythms.
However, entrainment is not usually beneficial in most relationships.
Most people don’t know what their true rhythms for closeness and separateness are. I know I didn’t even begin to explore my own pacing until my late thirties.
“Did you ever have the feeling that you wanted to go, but still had the feeling that you wanted to stay…” ~ Jimmy Durante
Yeah, I know you don’t know the comedian, but he says it all. I would stay too long or not stay long enough. This could be at parties, other social events, and most importantly, in relationships.
Some of the beautiful, intelligent, creative women I’ve had the honor to know stayed with me a long time before kicking my young ass to the curb, or for that matter, even my old ass. But more than that, some would be very clear and committed to their own way and pace of doing and being before I got there.
I’ve asked hundreds of women what they were like after leaving a relationship. So many have said things lie, “I started yoga, kept a journal, planted a little garden, meditated…”
“Then what happened?” I’d ask.
“Then I met soulmate number 12 or 15, and within six months, I stopped yoga, my garden turned into weeds, etc., etc.”
By the way, many men do these exact same things and then “lose themselves.”
I adapted to a lover’s schedule, pace, needs, appetites, agenda, diets, etc. Why? Because I didn’t now what my own rhythms were for closeness and separateness were.
By the time my ex-wife and I got together I knew how long I could be at a social event – an hour. She would stay two or three, and we did this gladly with never an argument because we took separate cars and cared and trusted each other’s time frame needs and fidelity.
Now when I go out for dinner or coffee my maximum time for relaxed and refreshing conversation and interaction is right at two hours. And all my friends now this about me.
So, have you ever let your rhythms for closeness and separation get too far in sync and “lost yourself?”
It is one of the kisses of death to creativity, intimacy, communication, and way too often, contributes to the demise of relationships.
Here is the mysterious poem that illustrates this:
The Wind, One Brilliant Day ~ Antonio Machado
The wind, one brilliant day, called
to my soul with an odor of jasmine.
“In return for the odor of my jasmine,
I’d like all the odor of your roses.”
“I have no roses; all the flowers
in my garden are dead.”
“Well then, I’ll take the withered petals
and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain.”
the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:
“What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?”
Translated by Robert Bly
Thank you, John. Once again, I really enjoy your insight.
Ugh! I relate so much to his piece and I am so afraid of losing myself again. I have been single for about 8 years without even looking. Why? Because I keep telling myself I like being able to choose my own timing and I am to old and set in my ways to bend to someone else’s.