Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Empty Room Meditation

I am in an empty room.
All the walls are windows except the one at my back.
I am in an empty room, in my stitching chair.
It is quiet.
The windows are just screens. The breeze is gentle, the air sweet.
I close my eyes, still my hands.
I rest.
It's quiet.
There is no thing in my head.

In 1992, I took a journal writing workshop with Christina Baldwin .  I've been going through some of the exercises this week and re-doing them.  The exercises are still relevant and push me in an emotional way.  Totally different emotions than those of twenty years ago, yet I am still me.

"Imagine the space between your eyes and ears as an empty room.  Take out everything except for one thing.  This is the message.  Thank the message."

Questions like these are in her books about journal writing.
Why is it a secret?
What would make it safe to tell?
Who else is this secret affecting in your present life?
There is usually a reason that things happen to us.  What was the gift or the reason that resulted from this event?
Have you forgiven yourself?

11 comments:

Ms. said...

I am in a cluttered room
All the walls have stuff on them
All the windows are curtained
It is night, and quiet except for the sound of my tapping keys and a fan.
There are no secrets I need to tell.
Things I've never told are not secret to me, but not relevant to others.
No one is being affected by them. I love where you are and what you are looking at. I would like to be in a place like that someday really, but I'm loving that you've brought me to it virtually in this moment.

Judy Martin said...

I am in the Caribbean for a short period. The photo of the little balcony off our bedroom came before I realized that I had described this in one of Baldwin's exercises.

I own her book, Life's Companion.

Marianne Hall said...

This is beautiful Judy. I've never heard of her or this practice before. Please soak up the sun and breeze for the rest of us....

Caterina Giglio said...

and obviously in a warm clime, so nice and lovely stitches...

April said...

miss you mom, love those new stitches you have pictured.

and btw thank you for sending me that marcel duchamp link, you really inadvertently helped beef up my essay and boost my confidence. love you.
hug to dad please when he finishes floating around with his pool noodles. xoxox
ps i am back safe and sound and the exhibition is up.
:)

Velma Bolyard said...

enjoy it all.

mansuetude said...

I love this post. Am going to try writing to my future self this week, twenty years forward. It kind of boggles my mind right now.

Now, If it were me, I would march my "empty room" right down to that water and get all my windows wet.

Enjoy! Cheers.

Ann Knickerbocker said...

The piece you are working on is beautiful, and seems to bring the light into the fabric. And it's good to know about Christina Baldwin and her exercises! Thank you!

najlaa said...

Hi Judy
This piece of work is so beautifu. Is a quilt? wall hanging? You dye it? Hope you have a time to relax with this quiet place
Najlaa

Penny Berens said...

Looks like the same room as last year. The physical room I mean, not the one between your ears. Sounds like a great book by the way.

Marianne Hall said...

Me again.....I just wanted to say that I've ordered 'Life's Companion'.....and Christina was quoted in my on line class today....so all this is very synchronistic. I LOVE it! Thank you again for this post.