I want to send out a Newsletter to all of you on the Forever Zone mailing list, sometime next week. I will give a head's up. For those of you who are new here, the Zone was a private segment of this site and access was purchased through the shop. Then I needed a rest. To understand my goal maybe. Anyway. I need time to think a bit. I will talk soon about how I might continue... in some softer way.
I'm no spring chicken...
Ding!
The cloth I call Grow is resting.
Looking, I thought to myself, rest is a big part of growing.
Perhaps form is simply the manifestation of rest and going.
Form emerges in between. fed by both.
Yes I say to myself, the magic in this natural order.
Rock. Breath.
I caught myself rolling my eyes the other day. Out and about somewhere. What someone said was so , like, well it seemed stupid to me. Like yeah, where have you been? Didn't you know that? That give me a break, get a life attitude.
Then shame...
I think about discovery this morning. Learning. Even small things. Things that don't seem new. How all learning and discovery is always new. When I actually experience the newness myself. There is light, and there is personal light.
Some things just take time.
Today is my 75th birthday. I find myself caring for my 93 year old mother (also a stitcher) as she prepares for her next mysterious journey. Perfect time for pondering. As I maintain my vigil I’m disassembling an old quilt-parts of it shattered, parts salvageable for future creative moments. Thank you, Jude, for unwittingly accompanying me. Your stories, your voice, and your generosity as a teacher bring me peace.
And thank you for finding comfort here.
Jude, I so understand this thing called « advancing age ». I will celebrate 80 years later this year- yikes, how did that happen!
To all « no spring chickens « (female And male alike). I am reading a wonderful book (had it for 10 Years now, but never thought I needed it,!?. What comfort to find all the wonder that is in front of me. The book: (only 112 pages!)
« Old Age » Journey Into Simplicity. By Helen M. Luke
Morning Light Press, Sandpoint, Idaho.
Have any of you read it? Comments?
I have not, since I am not much of a reader, but the title made me think of my Mom. And it is so familiar, the simplicity thing. The letting go, the being done with things. And what do we choose to keep? We find ourselves that way.
Pausing… resting…. staying anchored in trust in these tipsy turvy times …. Being in stillness…. Gifting wonder and magic of being inward and outward…
All these for me get more and more important as the years gather (76) . My life ‘store’ inside seems so big compared to younger, more physically doing days. Deeper. It all needs more reflection time. This often looks like naps….! Take care of you, dear one.
Naps, I loved that here.
Such wise words. And yes i find myself in those eye situations too. I am gratefull for my “riper” age to have the peace and time to reflect deeper and become softer (dont know if softer is the right word. Have to give that more thought)
I think i might have to make myself a blanket called “resting”.
A present for me and a reminder.
blanket and resting go together right?
Patience and tolerance have been my words to work on for years. It’s funny, when I was 15 I knew everything; now at 81 I hardly know anything. Dad once said wisdom is knowing when you don’t know.
Maybe what we need to know changes… as we begin to stop chasing everything.
Thank you Jude, what I ask myself is how can I become more sensitive. We never know another person’s burdens.
Thanks for sharing your work and yourself. Rest is vital.
Everyone has a story.
I’d like to think we’re all renewed every spring. A not- spring chicken with new feathers.
I can go with that…
“to know is often to reject what others think they know”… yes, and to even reject what WE think we know. ha!
yes, and that, hopefully…at least reconsider from a new perspective.
Cluck
Yeah, that moment to withhold judgement and grant grace. I practice that one a lot.
takes a lot of practice.
Rest and going, ebb and flow . . . maybe the energy & joy that discovery brings is what keeps us “not-so-Spring-y” chickens moving along? Thanks, Jude, for all that you share with us!
I love that feeling of discovery, even tho it has been discovered before. When the ding happens.
❤️
Have a restful day Jude, and as many days you can get in!
I’m doing nothing and it feels like so much.
I had that moment yesterday, that pause to realize someone is still growing and becoming. We all are. 🙂
Right? newness at every turn. Maybe I should add newness to any old thing.
Yes, i like the idea of rest bringing back energy. So I did not have any caffeine today… resting with thoughts.. Energy generates well on restful days since nights are not always restful in this stage of life.
I stop myself when I get very judgmental. Then I recall an exercise I learned as a team member at work
“There are three sides to information.. Yours, Theirs, and The Truth.”
yes to less restful nights, but less caffeine is helping.
three sides, perfect, yes…
I so enjoyed this post, I simply lingered in it. Rested in it. It’s raining here, first time in months and odd for February, but it brings a time for pause. Wishing you love and light.
Thank you.❤️
slower is so useful. Winter slows me down, even tho I bitch a bit, it is good for me.
Some people are just slower on the uptake. 🙂 Resting is so good, gives space in the mind for the new to come. No spring chicken here either…(83)
Maybe it’s a matter of not being ready.
83! Yay!
Look at that beautiful green shoot of newness and life and going! That and the rainbow picture made my day. Thanks! Spring blessings to you of every sort!
I feel new, what could be better?
Aww, Jude, thank you for your honest and vulnerable post. Maybe we’re no spring chickens, more like winter hens, growing in wisdom through willingness for self-reflection? Finding self-compassion by honoring the need to rest, making space for contemplation, for being with what is and who we are. I recently heard an artist name her “inner bitch”, that critical voice that calls out everything she does as not good enough. Yet she also knows her strength, and she pushes back by carrying on. Standing up to our inner bitches. Those habitual voices from our childhoods, self-protection no longer needed to keep us safe. Reframing the critical inner bitch into self-compassion, I begin to find compassion for others — the inner bitch as the shadow side of the winter hen? I like thinking about that.
it’s hard isn’t it? To know is often to reject what others think they know, it hits me hard sometimes, as an unsolvable puzzle. But to acknowledge it helps…
Haha….I like that: „Winter Hen“.
I related to your eye roll story, then shame, then a realization & then kindness.
Learning requires thought & depth & little nudges to see clearly.
Light shines through!
Peace to you this morning. 💖
PS love the velvet…want to touch it!
Arlee dyed that velvet…
https://fibrespace.bigcartel.com/
Hey ho to you!
I had to stop and really give your words their due. For me, it’s about coming to really know myself. I used to be called a Pollyanna, lovingly, but it came across as criticism. I realize now that it’s really my way of finding Beauty…in people, in Nature, in myself. I have loved being a part of all of you, through Jude’s artistic visions. I can’t thank you enough, Jude.❤️
it is about knowing yourself, I agree, it helps us know others.