OBSERVATION EFFECT
One of the biggest themes of life lately is this Quantum idea that matter is aware of when it’s being observed. It seems to allow for so many wild possibilities, that potentially hope and doubt can be spells, or that if everyone is focused on newness and revelry on New Years Eve, that collectively we can shift the dynamic of the world a little bit. I also felt the effects profoundly last night at our Fire and Ice party in the warehouse... we’d set up a little metal bar for people to sit on the side of the dancefloor, and this ‘audience’ changed the dynamic entirely, everyone on the floor becoming much more performative, these solos and duets spontaneously emerging, and moments of interaction between audience and dancers. I reflect that we’re capable of giving so much energy to each other, of getting so much energy from each other.
SHORT STORY WRITING
Spent a day this week crafting a short story I feel really happy with - it’s one of the most honest and direct-from-real-life pieces I’ve written. There’s always something so delightful about this creative non-fiction, because all of the details are already there. The nuances and complexities of each character relationship, seeing as the characters are real people. The details of what painting was there on the wall, what kind of car the person was driving. Rather than the imaginativeness of inventing likely specifics, the writing becomes more about structuring, craftsmanship and finesse. Converting just the right parts of these real life events into something fascinating, which has a good flow and is hopefully of interest to the reader. My piece was about my childhood, growing up between two very different houses. So far I’ve showed it to two people and they both seemed to really enjoy it.
GRATEFULNESSES
Have rediscovered a gratefulness practice this week. During our silent retreat, I wrote a list of 100, which felt great. Something I’m loving about quite large quanitities, pushing oneself to keep going and getting to unusual and deeply true entries towards the end of a very long list, when you’re trying hard to simply think of anything. Accidental gold emerges. Also some daily practices around noting which were the beautiful moments of the day and what silver linings can be taken from any tough feelings. Connecting to the Quantum ideas and words as spells, it’s nice to cast positive spells of hope, paying attention to what feels great and encouraging more of it to pop up.
MAKING PAINT FROM ROCKS
I drove four hours to the town of Hofn, through wondrous Icelandic wildnerness, white mountains for miles and frozen over grey blue lakes. Put Sigur Ros on the car stereo, of course, to complete the magic moment. In the small seaside town, famous for their lobster, I went to a class where we smashed rocks into powder and mixed this powder with gum, honey and alcohol to create paint. It also works with crushed seashells, tumeric or ground up herbs, meaning you can create off-white, yellow and green. Beetroot, of course, gives you a reddy-pink. And various shades of ochre and blue-greys from the rocks. A wonderful pallette, and one which has so clearly come from the world around rather than from a factory.