Monday, August 31, 2015

tangled brain

I had this small red journal at the cottage.
Began it July 12 in Liverpool, and finished it August 18 at the family cottage.
but since I stayed at the cottage for another eleven days,
I had to find spaces in that little red book to keep my thoughts and sketches.
It became so crowded and tangled in there that I couldn't think.

I could not think!
and thought is the 6th sense, Boetti says.
My journals encourage the 6th sense in me.
They give me a place to listen to my self but more than that....
They encourage me to think.
 My brain became so tangled when I didn't have enough empty pages.
Louise Bourgeois said this.
I wrote it into the red journal twice.  Once July 24.  Again August 18.
I had written Tracey Emin's comment about solitude on July 19.

Solitude is like a new blank journal for me.
It gives me space to think.

10 comments:

Gail Baar said...

Wonderful post Judy! I looked up the book you linked to-is it good? I might order that one!

Judy Martin said...

Gail, the book about Louise Bourgeois by Ulf Kuster is so good! I highly recommend it.
x

Ms. said...

Last night in the dharma talk after a Zen sitting, 'Koshin' spoke of becoming new, of becoming other than the you expected, of letting it go, of freeing the self to begin again, of becoming someone else. Simultaneously, and for many days, slowly and with quiet determination, I have been digging back through decades of long neglected closet-space rooms to eliminate many past objects of the many personas stored there. The physicality of this work is daunting because I've been here since 1969 through many incarnations of self, and the work is dirty too because dust and rust do not sleep. The work is also bringing those several personas back up out of their forgetfulness to the light of this moment. It is illuminating, but most of the artifacts are no longer necessary. The work is slow both on account of my physical ability, and the thoughts the discoveries engender. I am abandoning this process on Thursday for a trip up to dear friends in Massachusetts through the 9th, but I have made a calendar note to visit MOMA on the 11th (free Friday nights) to look for Boetti. Your post has inspired me.

jude said...

alone time is so key.

Mo Crow said...

the spinning sufis always inspire me when life feels a bit too fast and chaotic

Montse Llamas said...

I have been trying to write a post for some months ago just for this reason you are talking about here. Thinking. And untangling my brain. But it seems so difficult for me. It ussually happens that I do not know how to start and what to write. Sometimes I write quotes from the books I am reading. Today I copied a quote from this post.

My husband loves writing and journaling and I try to learn from him, looking at his proccess and asking for advice

I am also thinking of ordering the book from LB. I am sure it will be inspiring.

Thanks, Judy.

Karen Thiessen said...

I hear you, Judy! Summer rhythms eventually lead to tangled brain syndrome. Solitude allows me to knit myself back together and process incoming stimuli. That it's finally September is a relief to me. I guess you'll need to pack a few spare notebooks next time. =)

Judy Martin said...

I had laid one out on the kitchen counter at home - but forgot it!
I think I need to keep an emergency supply handy at all times. x

Fresca said...

Oh, wow--thank you, your thoughts are a gift to me today, the first day after a beloved friend has moved out on her own.
I'd woken up thinking I'd turn her empty little room into a sewing room for me. Now I will hang that LB quote on the wall:
Art is the acceptance of solitude.

Yes.

Susan said...

I've always got my notebook, a 99 cent composition notebook, and a good pen, to try to keep track of the good stuff that goes flying by.
I'm lost without it.