When fish get scared they move in fast jerks immediately clouding the water with silt so nothing is clear. When they are group calm in the water above the mud it’s easy to see openings and light, passageways.
In muddied waters no fish sees beyond its eyeballs. People do this too, they kick up a lot of confusion when scared. It gets all dirty-swirly and we lose sight of identifying what is going on and viewing or sorting out solutions. Moving more as a unit smooth and measured and together works unless there is a shark, which is not usually the actual case.
Recently I needed a ride and I ended up in a car going too fast, worse than a panicked fish.
We flew past the red flashing lights and I said:
You were supposed to stop there.
He said: Oh yeah, I know but there were no people crossing I looked both ways and so it’s fine. Sure I could have gotten a ticket, I guess.
I then remembered last time I caught a ride from this friend, he passed with an oncoming vehicle on a short bit of highway. Don’t pass I said, he did it anyway.
He said: Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have.
He said he likes to watch the dash cam car near accidents or actual accidents, finds it soothing. I said, you wanna know what I watch for relaxation? I watch a ferrier hot- shoe horses. He scrapes and cleans the bottom of the hooves, then heats up the shoe red hot, bangs on it to shape it, custom fit for the horse. Then the hot shoe is placed on the hoof and it goes hisssss with smoke. At the end, he applies polish to the outside of the hoof like a shoe shine. The hooves look gorgeous.
The title of this was a sort of clickbait. And I actually really like it. It is true, though, a few squirrels have come into the house to eat out of a bag of peanuts. My cats aren’t interested in catching squirrels. We just have to close the pet door for a while. This has happened before and it was resolved.
I went to the art walk Friday even though I had been grumpy all day. A couple hours before someone asked me which gallery and what art and I said I didn’t know I was just going because someone asked me to go and was picking me up to drive me there so it seemed I should follow through. And we agreed it’s usually better to go. “It builds relationships,” she said.
The art show was all the stuff of someone who died over the summer. He made tons of brightly-colored paintings, a miniature movie theater, beaded jewelry, and his driver’s license and medicare card. Everyone spoke so highly of him that it really was an uplifting group experience and it was better than sitting at home not building relationships.
I sat down with another friend to carve linocuts and then print them.
I like enjoying people. I like my neighbors.
The conversation map in this area is this: to the north we talk about plants, the northeast we talk poets, east we talk politics, southeast is weather, west is mostly dogs.
You remember the tree down the block that was sentenced to be cut down? Didn’t happen. The two notices eventually disappeared and it’s still standing. I am amazed.
I’m practicing moving toward solutions one-on-one and in groups. I don’t need to move fast, just with fluidity and clarity to not end up lost in a muddy pond unable to see points of entry and exit.
I’m gonna have a party on the 28th for dems and friends to talk about what we do next on all levels not just political. Let me know if you want to come. There will be soup.
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