How is Sewing and Healing similar?
Sewing.. the mess. the pins. the holes. the unpicking…the masterpiece!
When I use my hands in something physical -
like sewing (for you it maybe gardening, cooking, weaving, plucking the guitar, playing the drums, ironing, washing the dishes, weaving etc) I integrate. I process. I day dream. I breathe out. I stop. I pause. I re-evaluate. I journey. I chat in the land beyond here...
Essentially I slow down enough to allow the energies around me to expand until it just becomes me and the shimmer of something greater around me. I remember my brother, was once auditioning for a band as a drummer, and he got the gig cause "Wow! you were so in the ZONE". The "Zone"! by many a name, it is that place where time stops and your inner cells expand and you step beyond the Here into the There.
Sewing like music,
like anything really, is a massive journey of commitment, love, passion and evaluation. It is a process. It requires patience. It is at times incredibly messy and yet absolutely colourful. (my lounge room floor can vouch for that!)
Sewing, like healing
requires that you allow the mess. Deep healing is never tidy. It constantly brings things to the surface to sort, mend, re-organise, let go of, repair etc. It turns you inside out and upside down and washes you (in the depth of your tears!) and lays you gently (or not!) in a new sort of comfort.
Sometimes healing though, can truly be gentle and soothing. Like holding soft blue silk and rubbing it on your cheek.
Other times though, when the healing is deep and raw and emotional and old, and our mindset isn't as fluid as our soul wishes, it is like a needle as it constantly pricks the same spot over and over and OVER again.
And yet, when we speak to someone who can listen without judgement, who can say a word or three that makes us think, ponder and reflect we can learn to re-guide that needle without it hurting.
Or maybe we choose to wear a thimble (aware of what actions protect our energies), or maybe we move our position slightly, (aware of what our thoughts/ideas are, and in that we become more flexible and adaptable as we can see the world in a different way), then that uncomfortable becomes comfortable and we can breathe out once again.
Sometimes, that person that we sit with is ourselves
as we sit in the "zone" of Here and There. In that silent space of deep stillness and inner peace.
Sewing is at other times is frustrating - when you realise that the “short cut” way of doing something really isn’t the most practical, the most honest or the most reliable and YES! UNPICKING IT AGAIN!!!! is the only way to move forward.
Yep, it can take us through the broad spectrum of emotions in one short stint.. and hey, that is grand! Emotions are just as colourful as the material. (I recently held a beautiful Let's talk about workshop where we explored the huge spectrum of Anger. That workshop has laid the foundations for many more "Let's talk about..." workshops. "Let's talk about Joy. Shame. Death. Personal Power..... Please email me if you want to know more)
Sewing is a process.
A PROCESS. SLOW. CONSCIOUS. BREATHING IN. BREATHING OUT. MAKING MISTAKES. BEING AWARE. PRICKING OUR FINGERS. UNPICKING THE STITCHES. PUTTING IT DOWN. PICKING IT UP AGAIN. MOVING TO A BETTER LIGHT. LEAVING IT ALONE. COMING BACK TO IT.
It is realising that we have to take the time to pin the whole hem before we can sew it in the line we want it to be. Not to be a perfectionist, not to get the “straight line”, rather to utilise the resources we have to the best of our ability in a way that can empower the wearer or the receiver.
The process also honours the “dirt work”. The times we have to be
Patient
The times we have to realise that we have to
Practice
a new way of being in the world once we have had a healing, once we have learnt a new sewing skill. To understand the skill we have to practice it, to integrate it, to empower it in a body, mind and soul that truly understands it. Then it goes from being a theoretical idea in a book, to a real embodied idea. It goes from just being out there, to a tangible real new way of being in the world. And in this time mistakes are make, more mess is created and deep breathes are constantly being taken.
It is also trusting that sometimes things don’t work out the way we thought, and rather than “throw” that idea away, maybe we can unpick it and see what parts resonate and what didn’t or doesn't, creating something new and unique that fits us in a way that highlights our individual way of being in the world.
Sometimes sewing, like healing is deeply challenging.
Sometimes it feels that there are so many holes in our energy field, that we are so fragmented, tired and stressed that we feel we are falling apart (like a old and loved pair of jeans). Sometimes we just need someone to gently guide us in a way that mends our holes with such compassion, strength and awareness that we can breathe out again without feeling we are falling apart even more.
And then what if I make a mistake? What if I cut it the material too short? What if the colours don’t really match and yet it FEELS good? What if folks laugh at my new fashion style? What if I come to a part and I have no idea where to go to from here? What if I’m “not as good” as my peers? or I am ashamed of what I’ve done?
Or what if I know I CAN do it and yet I am too shy and too filled with self doubt? What would happen if I thought I could unpick the sleeves of a 50 year old tweed jacket to lengthen them, only to botch it up? Or not? What happens if what I thought about myself wasn't true - positively or negatively ?
And then, what if I changed, would I have a tribe that accepted me? What would it be like to feel whole once again, to take that breathe and feel that I am no longer leaking in energy or feeling depleted, or frayed or lifeless? What would happen if I slowed down enough to listen to the silence beyond, or if I moved away from the “shore” of where I have been and journeyed in new ways, sewed in new stitches, explored my heart and soul in new and more colourful, heart-felt ways
Sewing, like healing requires that you allow the mess.
Deep healing is never tidy. It constantly brings things to the surface to sort, mend, re-organise, let go of, repair etc. It turns you inside out and upside down and washes you (in the depth of your tears!) and lays you gently (or not!) in a new sort of comfort.
Sometimes healing though, can truly be gentle and soothing. Like holding soft blue silk and rubbing it on your cheek.
Other times though, when the healing is deep and raw and emotional and old, and our mindset isn't as fluid as our soul wishes, it is like a needle as it constantly pricks the same spot over and over and OVER again.
And yet, when we speak to someone who can listen without judgement , who can say a word or three that makes us think, ponder and reflect we can learn to re-guide that needle without it hurting.
Or maybe we choose to wear a thimble (aware of what actions protect our energies), or maybe we move our position slightly, (aware of what our thoughts / ideas are, and in that we become more flexible and adaptable as we can see the world in a different way), then that uncomfortable becomes comfortable and we can breathe out once again.
Sometimes, that person that we sit with is ourselves
as we sit in the "zone" of Here and There. In that silent space of deep stillness and inner peace.
And then what would happen my friend?
What would happen???
You would dream again.
You would fill your lungs up with your song.
You would skip instead of slump
You would hold yourself in a new way
You would honour your emotions because you now realise they are the key to magical doors
You would sail your boat, because being out there in the vastness is so freeing and breathtaking
You would proudly wear your "new clothes" patched with love and acceptance, peace and hope, and your peers would smile as ask "where did you get them?"
And you would hug yourself and love yourself and be proud of the new song you drummed out, the new masterpiece you sewed, the new inner pathways you explored, discovered and befriended,
and you would be so filled with this newness that your light would make others ask "what have you been doing?!"
and you would know that in mending yourself you are inspiring other to mend themselves too.
Much love to you my dear friend,
as you mend and heal, sew and unpick, embroide and breathe
Until we meet again, in the mess and the unpicking,
Blessed Be