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so.  here we are.  and it's not at all that i didn't like the First Way, really, but that it didn't seem to be able to Breathe.  ok. 

and today, i "see" a large circle of stitch.  i printed it out and used the top of the small sauce pan for the circle on the pic.  and then….,  Mind said…make lizards and birds on that circle.  and i drew them on with pencil.  nice.  but as the day went along,  ……, No.  Wait, stuff says.  ok.  and i am roasting green chilis for the green chili stew.  there are a few ways to do that but tonight i choose the easy way.  and as i am scraping off their skins, feeling impatient, suddenly i remember something. 

I remember being in Oregon.  not so long after i had bailed on my previous life, looking for something that Made More Sense.  and i am remembering, clear as a bell, driving over the mountain pass from where i lived to where i worked 3 days a week at a residence for elderly persons.  i have NO memory of how i found that job, got that job.  but i did.  and i drove maybe 50 miles?, maybe more, i really don't know.,  through a mountain pass on Forest roads that only had numbers and i would have to memorize the terraine, memorize the shape of a very certain rock to know where to turn.  and often i would have to stop at some point and put snow chains on the tires. and i remember how i sometimes didn't know then What On Earth i was Doing????? and would feel so Lost.  and then i remembered how i dealt with that.  i would describe to myself, Out Loud, exactly everything i was doing.  Details.  like:  i am driving soon past where all the sheep are.  they are on the left in that pasture and when i get to the second post, i will honk my horn and they will startle and RUUUUUUUUN.  for just a minute.  then stop.  suddenly.  and begin to graze.  then, there will be the two trees that make a V.  turn.  and then go.  over the mountain.  to the house where you work.  where all the people are waiting for you.  and make some money so you can pay Sandy for your place on the mountain, buy gas.  eat.  feed Lucy and UnaMoon. 

tonight, i remembered that.  because i was feeling impatient at peeling the chilis.  it didn't come in small details but as a Large Remembering.  that said…"when you don't know.  or, are impatient", tell yourself aloud what you are Doing, and Why you are Doing it. 

and it worked.  i peeled the chilis and made the stew.  i washed all the dishes and put everything away.  i made the fire.  i am writing this.  all this this evening so i can begin anew in the morning.  with nothing left over from today.  begin anew.  because stuff has begun to Circle Around and i want to be ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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22 responses to “Stuff is circling around”

  1. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Being ready, yu should have a lovely sleep. See you tomorrow.

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  2. judy martin Avatar

    I loved reading this post.
    I’ll try that. Telling myself what i am doing, out loud.
    Then maybe things will make sense.
    x

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar

    i will. sleep. Wind crashes around outside doing stuff.
    but i will sleep.
    love, Michelle, love to U

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar

    Judy…it really DOES WORK!. i wanted the taste of
    green chili. how to Have that? roast them. peel them.
    would seem easy. but mind is annoyed about the time it
    takes to roast them them steam the skins loose, scrape
    off the peel. but if i describe to myself OUTLOUD, each
    step. “I am roasting the chilis on this giddle to char
    their skins. so they, the skins, let loose of the meat.
    i am steeeeeaming them, adding a small amount of water,
    so this loosening happens easier. i WANT the taste of
    green chili. This is how i get it….i LIKE to eat. i love the taste of it. this is the way that happens”.
    it SEEMS dumb. but really…maybe what it is is really
    putting oneself in the Moment. We…me,….are/am
    always so ahead of our/my self/ves. it’s really hard.
    to Quiet. and do what needs to be done. What WANTS to
    be done, but doesn’t really recognize how that happens.
    ???????

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  5. handstories Avatar

    a way to be in all the moments and to claim them & clear them
    glory be.

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  6. patricia Avatar

    dear Grace. this post struck a chord so deep inside of me this morning. feeling tears behind warm eyelids. for you, for all of us, for the grit it sometimes takes to just keep going. and thanks for the chuckle, for the scattering sheep.

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  7. saskia Avatar

    you know when you’re really determined to get something done, it will be done.
    Yes, saying it out loud helps, out loud so you can hear it, and if need be, others as well, and maybe they can help you.
    your story up in the mountains of how you got to your work reminded me of how I got my job 4 years ago; we Needed money, I got a tip from a friend about a job, I applied, did one interview and the next day had a job. From the moment I’d made up my mind I Needed a job to getting it, took less than three weeks, I’m amazed at the sheer doggedness of my will back then, could do with more of that every once in a while

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  8. KAMFreeman Avatar

    Grace…This story, this opening to the circling around came to my eyes to read as I have been feeling the need for some shifting, some ordering of pieces that just keep getting in the way of smooth walking along the road. So I began the dialogue, out loud: working with some cloths that speak loud stories…putting them on the back of the sofa to view…always the sofa color influencing the color, form movement of the piece…a little place with nearly every wall covered in bookcases…but, I could make a place to hang the pieces with a large cloth…there is flannel in white yes, I could hang that from one of those large storage shelving pieces in the studio..yes, and even a temporary piece jerry-rigged to hang in my main room so I could see what was coming to life in my pieces as I stitched…yes I could still get to the books…Wow..out loud, talk. . yes keeping that forward movement.. a journey of delights…open more now thanks to this story of OUTLOUD….yes, it is a great story for me. And the piece forming, woven, circle coming birds, lizards….mmm a delicious imagining comes to me and I wait for the images to be shared..
    Green chili…just today at the little store a man was putting green chillies into his cart…I watched and thought, is there a chilli recipe I am to make? and now this early winter morning your story of the cooking of green chillies…the circles, the thoughts on the wind, the opening, the out-loud …so much deliciousness to all of the process.
    Surely this new day will bring the energy on the wind to touch your stitches with the story they want to be telling.

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  9. jude Avatar

    so today you didn’t stitch? but you thought about it.

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  10. Mo Crow Avatar

    ah the circling… and why we do what we are doing in any given moment.. have been stitching a lot this weekend and not drawing much at all and wondering why…. the stitching is what I do when I’m thinking about the drawing, a soothing for the soul and feels like I am sitting in a circle of friends even though we can’t see each other…

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  11. elizabeth fortes Avatar
    elizabeth fortes

    I’ve been thinking I’ve been postponing. For a long time. Since starting out, really.
    No. Now I know! I’ve been Circling around the task. A big one. Now I know.
    Will get down to it. After all this circling.
    Crows and seagulls do it well. Saw 12 eagles recently “sitting”, perching and circling.They can do it for me.
    I’ll get down to the task and get it over with. While circling is going on…..
    Thank you Grace! Love. e.

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  12. Chris Linton Avatar

    I like your memory of saying out loud what you are doing. Of course it is keeping you in the “now moment” rather than in that frustrating thought process. I have a memory where I remember a difficult time where I found saying “do one thing at a time” over and over focuses me and I bring this to my mind if my mind has gone scatty.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    the grit it sometimes takes. yes.
    i still feel a little guilty about those sheep, but it
    was only a minute

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    “sheer doggedness of will”…i like that a lot. yes.
    and it feels good. on top of it all. it Does feel good.

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    i LOVE this response, really really love it and can
    relate so completely at how one thing flows into the
    next…just a Rush of Stuff
    and OUTLOUD, yes. to HEAR it spoken, OutLoud.
    THANK YOU KRISTEN FOR THIS!!!!!
    love,

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    the circle is Strong. we see with our Hearts.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    e…whereEver you are, to be in the presence of 12 Eagles
    is a gift beyond compare.
    LOVE and GO!

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    well, i’ve needed things to be even more specific than
    that one thing at a time.
    Down to the minutia for me. and then even more down.
    this is the way it needs to go sometimes.
    “my mind has gone scatty”…LOVE this expression!!!!
    xoxo

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  19. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    I had a rabbi/friend who walked with me during the most terrifying moments of my daughter’s deterioration. Traditional Jewish liturgy sustains and anchors me through so much, but it didn’t do squat. All I could do was walk the dogs in the woods and match my footsteps to the racing of my heart. She suggested that on these walks, I just talk aloud to God, to the trees, to the boxers. Say aloud everything I was feeling, fearing. And it turned out to be such a comfort. Hearing my own voice aloud got me out of the jungle noises of my head and gave me a string to hold on to…reminds me of the strings from Luring Crows. Thank you SO MUCH for putting this out there again for me!

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    Julie…there is something so potent about OutLoud. about
    putting sounds to the thoughts, the fears, the longings.
    Sound is so amazing. This is beautiful, that your rabbi/friend suggested this to you…but then, isn’t it too somewhat traditional to speak this way to God?? i have been thinking lately that i need to have some songs for my days here. not ones i already know, but ones i make up and simple enough so i can repeat them easily enough. the Goats like sound, my kind of singing…but it’s always different. you give me thoughts about working at that. MUCH love to you and thank you for this….xoxo

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