The View From Here/Up For This Week

The View From Here

The days are just pouring by here. So much to learn, so much to take in, so much to think about.

I wrote yesterday about how liberating it is to be exploring the possibility that I don't in fact have to do everything all the time: that in fact I do much better biting off much smaller pieces of experience. That I can actually be relatively sane and healthy if I don't drive myself under by overextending myself. By a wonderful serendipity, late this afternoon we got to talking about creative energy that's driven by thinking about what we don't do - the Emily Dickinson quotation '"No" is the wildest word we consign to language,' and her practice of saying 'no' to all kinds of things in order to make room for her writing. 

This rings so true for me at the moment. I remember writing in a blog post some time ago about the richness of my inner horizons, contrasting that with Phil's perpetually eager outward embracing (although Phil would point out that I'm very good at spotting all kinds of things 'outside'). I'm feeling this inner richness strongly at the moment and it is a blessing. It's very thought-provoking that to some degree it should be predicated on 'saying "no."' Especially after I had as my email signature for years the Hafiz lines 'I rarely let the word 'no' escape my mouth/because it is so clear to me/that God has shouted 'yes! yes! yes!'/to every timeless movement in existence.' Of course it's a balance, of course you need some 'outer' to recharge the 'inner,' but I feel like I'm coming closer to that balance, without condemning myself because it's 'less' than I feel I 'should' be doing, for the first time. I really never used to say 'no' to anything.

I'm so grateful.

Up For This Week

I'm going to continue to make the best of this experience, and if that involves more resting, so be it. I hope to make it to one or two more concerts or shows, though. And I'll post impressions as they occur. 

Some more artwork from Chena Hot Springs - these earrings are made of gemstones and porcupine quills! Phil told me that porcupine quills were very commonly used in ornaments by natives - real easy to thread beads onto - but it was a new thing for me to see. Beautiful too.

Much love.