Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Chewing Preferred

Clicking on a new post page, with a clean, blank spot to type on makes me really happy.  My fingers walk happily over the keys, keeping up with the sentences oozing out in multiple long bubbles from the bubble wand ring.   Who is blowing on it?   You know how bubbles sort of quish out, get bigger and bigger, then release themselves one after the other?   The stretching they do before slowly being birthed is curious.  The iridescent colors wispy as they float off with the breeze.  The difference with written words is that when they land, they stay the same shape-don't pop into nothingness.  Permanent once they are published.  The mark words make aren't gooey, but possibly create a feeling, a thought, a memory.  Words land lightly, but penetrate deeply, letting us, the reader, come to our own conclusions and effect us personally.   

Someone asked me the other day if I would like to do a study with them, a book and workbook and video.  I declined the workbook.   Reading is extremely intimate.  Drawing from it exactly what you were thirsty and hungry for, what calms you, what inspires you, what makes you stretch, makes you laugh, what fits perfectly now at this particular moment in time, is the point.   Having something forced or pointed out cookie cutter fashion, can make you think of something you hadn't thought of, but at what cost.   It only feels suspiciously like drudgery, no matter how you cut it!  Now you know my dirty little secret~I HATE WORKBOOKS!  

Learning is enjoyable, like a cow chewing her cud.   Eat, swallow, burp it up, chew, swallow, burp it up, chew, swallow then it finally goes into the right stomach to be digested.  Natural rhythm. 

As I am learning how to share me, by writing, it is so tempting to explain what I mean, help you ......maybe moralize?   If I don't allow myself to indulge, it soon  becomes a delightful two way street; how do you see it differently, what is it saying to you, how did it jog your memory or how did the dots connect for you?  The questions unanswered are sort of becoming interesting to me instead of always so frustrating! 

A card or a book given as a gift to someone can create some strange reactions.  I have given books to people for many reason.  Sometimes, I simply think they will enjoy it.  Sometimes it is risky to give a book.  I have given inspiring leadership books away to people I admire and respect, thinking, you might not see yourself in this warm glow, but I see your abilities in this light.  They possibly could be offended, thinking they weren't measuring up and with this book as a hint, maybe could improve, when the truth is they are already enough already.   One time a gal came up to me and wondered why I had sent her this poignant card, was she not up to par, did she need improvement?   I felt so sad, because on the card I explicitly had said, this is you!   She couldn't receive it, just felt suspicious, instead of loved.    

Words are so many things.  Words go on and on.  Words can be taken hundreds of ways. Written words are fascinating.  'The Word was made flesh'..... now that's something to chew on for the next billion years!   

Like the scottish guy in Edinborough said when I asked him which way north was;  
"I don't know, I don't need to know, I'm not lost!"    
   
Sometimes, maybe I'm asking the wrong question? 
Hmmmm.... maybe I'm not lost. 
Instead, maybe I'm found, 
like a lost coin, 
a lost sheep,
a hidden treasure, 
a lost voice, 
a lost note,
a lost tune,
a lost story...........Oh I do like to be found! 
 
May the words find us.............


2 comments:

Kent, Melisa,Tiana (and Coda) said...

I admire your way with words, Kathleen!

Kathleen Overby said...

Thanks, I love your feedback!