Many of you know I'm on vacation this week, now almost at an end. Please enjoy this enhanced rerun from October, 2016
Recently while walking through my woods, at a moment while feeling drawn to a clump of ferns, I became aware of having no thought. Then I recognized a thought entering
in and calling the ferns "beautiful." When that happened, my initial feeling narrowed down, contracted. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would not have noticed that. But it made me even more aware that the act of labeling, even to call these plants beautiful, had made them less than their being. It narrows their scope.
IT'S NOT SOMETHING I MADE UP
Scientists might say that my first experience--that of feeling with no thought-- was coming from the right brain and that the
labeling came from the left brain. If you've read Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's book, My Stroke of Insight, that would make a lot of sense to you. While Dr. Jill's left hemisphere was totally wiped out by a stroke, having access solely to her right hemisphere with no access to
language whatsoever, she felt only bliss within her surroundings without any labels. Imagine that!
For years I've searched for ways to help my students empty their heads of labeling thoughts because I know that while painting and drawing, when we label images, we limit our ability to really see them. The flip side of that is that IF we redirect that desire of the left brain to label, we can make labeling work for us rather than limit
us.
Try this little exercise and you'll see what I'm talking about. Here's your image:
Click on the photo to get one you can print.
Review this Quick Tip so you'll see how to do this exercise,
then come back to this email.
Now, cursor back up to the image of the fiddler, grab some paper and a pencil and using my method of "Finger Drawing" from the Quick Tip, allow your finger and pencil point to move
on the paper along all the edges in the image. HERE'S THE KICKER: Allow your thoughts to think ONLY about the tactile feeling on your fingertip. Nothing else.
This exercise will require some practice and a lot of patience because thoughts are stubborn. They insists on having their way in
our heads, but we can control that with a little effort. You will see that once you guide your thoughts to think ONLY about the tip of your finger while drawing, your drawing will totally surprise you.
And have yourself a thoughtless weekend! 😎
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