so to clarify.  Yesterday,  when i said   "the background of unknowing, of confusion".  I was referring to the larger world,  the world of society that we live in.   The one in which there is so much unknowing, confusion, betrayal, dishonesty,  anger,  violence….a tangle of those things,  that present to us daily in the news.    That is the ground cloth here…the tangle,  the confusion.  Atop that,  is the piece of SKY.  Deb Lacativa.  you recognize her cloth now,  i'm sure.  None else like it and as the plain soft muslin of earth beneath it,  nothing here about tangle or confusion.  Both,  one Cloth.  

 

On Being     Ellen Langer,  the Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness….most recent episode. I listened while i drank the morning tea(s)..(3).  and it brought to mind an old tool i'd forgotten.  The thing of And and But.

How often, to ourselves in our own mind and also out loud to others,  we present something and then use the word But and continue with something else.  How the word But creates a dichotomy….stops things up short…closes a door….creates a divide.   And in the practice that i thought up,  i catch myself everytime i use that word but and instead, replace it with AND.

there is a very significant difference.  In this Cloth,  it's clear.  

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I could think…there is all the tangle of confusion heartbreak  that is the undercurrent to the days of this life in 2017 BUT  i can find Joy

or

I can exchange the word But for the word AND.  Which then would be inclusive

There is all the tangle of confusion and heartbreak that is the undercurrent to the days and i can  find  Joy.  Is the difference subtle or not?   But    acknowledges dichotomy.  Separation.

And  is inclusive.  It is ALSO.    Equal.

so…(Jude)….here it is.  Lesson of early November…. What began as laying a small rectangular piece of the folded edge of something Deb sent…a body became.   The angle of that led to the face.  I'd thought it would be a small cloth but the face said that there needed to be Sky above.  Enough to indicate vastness.  This changed everything.  Nothing worked anymore….needed more Earth if there was more Sky.  ok.  then that Kite appeared.  NEVER IMAGINED.  but there it was.  ok again.  

How great is this?  that Cloth gives so much.

 

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the joy of stitching the Tail of the kite with Deb's Dirty Thread

 

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i'm on a mission to try to get Fatter.  Peanutbutter cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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15 responses to “the Practice of and”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) love the tail on your kite!

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  2. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    everything about this peace is so wonderful .. I can see the gentle wind blowing by the movement of the tail .. very cool!

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  3. johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com Avatar
    johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com

    Beeeautiful…oxo

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  4. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Grace you have sent my spirits flying. I WAS on a mission to become fatter–SO successful!! and now I must end that quest. Sort of like flying a kite in strong breezes. Carries one AWAY.
    Big thick Brownies.

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  5. jude Avatar

    A wind thread. Did you make the cookies?

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  6. dee Avatar
  7. dee Avatar

    thanks for the AND BUT reminder… it’s subtle and makes a difference

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  8. grace Avatar

    it’s Deb’s Thread!

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  9. grace Avatar

    it’s been so long…but your words bring it back
    to me too….that Swaying….am remembering it.

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  10. grace Avatar

    you know…i think it’s going to have to be bread for me.
    And i think it will work…we’ll see. I need to consume
    more than i might want to,
    the sweet things…well, i like the batter, but not so
    much the results. Not all that much a sweet person,
    but i really NEED some fat. Really.

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  11. grace Avatar

    i did. and they’re good. But like i said to Joanne above,
    i’m not much for sweet stuff. It will take me a long time
    to eat those cookies.
    the other method is to just eat a few spoonfulls of straight
    peanut butter throughout the day…i can do that easier
    than cookies. Maybe i’ll stick to that

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  12. grace Avatar

    yes…but it DOES change things, doesn’t it. I worked
    with it inside my head today.
    sometimes i just say the word
    And
    in connection to everything and nothing, just
    AND
    and it’s nice.

    Like

  13. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Yes, to peanut butter on a spoon out of the jar. Better than the cookie.
    Here in Maine, after the historic wind damage, it is WARM. Like early Spring. Not Early winter.
    It feels so strange. Not right.
    My dog will be 11 in April. Still runs like the wind (well, some days) AND has never cared for the BALL.
    He prefers a chipmunk or squirrel to chase with no intent to catch. They know this and tease him from the trees above- circling and playing. there was a but in that sentence and now it is AND.

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  14. Deb G Avatar

    “Man cannot live on bread alone; he must have peanut butter.” James A. Garfield and it is true for women too. 🙂 Someday I am going to stencil this on my kitchen wall. I listened to both the edited/unedited interview. There is much I love about it.

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