November 18, 2005
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Last night my middle daughter and I went to another lecture. It was supposed to be on relieving stress. This woman has to be one of the strangest people I’ve ever met and, I suspect, the smartest.
And, MyKi_Whatzerface, she did something with her nose that involved sound. Her lips twitched, too. It was sort of transitional, like how people clear their throats.
The other bizarre thing was her speech pattern. I wouldn’t say it was monotone as much as it was evenly metered. At one point I raised my hand and told her she was speaking 260 words a minute. From all those years in court reporting school I can hear when someone’s going over 240 ’cause that’s what I top out at. I was trying to write to her in my head.
Here’s why I think she’s a genius. She started out as a blacksmith, and I may have the order wrong but I believe she then moved to theater. She was teaching art and that’s when she got into origami. But she discovered Chinese medicine and took up acupuncture. I don’t think she’s much over 30, either.
If I got her drift, it’s about experiencing the different mediums, the five elements: fire, water, metal, wood, and earth. The amazing thing, to me, is that she’d worked her way through most of them before she knew anything about the five elements.
And before she knew how those elements correspond with the body (wood/liver, water/kidney, etc) – I studied with a Chinese master for five years so I quit focusing on her weird facial twinges here and started paying attention — she discovered her relationship with each medium induced a different version of her creative self. The blacksmith and the acupuncturist may wear a different hat but the creative energy is the same. It manifests differently and changed her greatly but she believes we wake up a new person each morning. Since I am so scattered lately and trying to pull it all together I found it validating to hear this kind of reasoning.
She learned about being still and quiet and allowing energy from earth and heaven to ignite the passion, allowing you to attract what you should pay attention to (eleven-day workshop where you sit in silence. My daughter and I laughed all the way to the car imagining her trying to shut up the first day). Through that divine connection you find your way. This is how I see it and pretty much where she was coming from.
Because she taught art she said she sees everything as a metaphor. And this was where my daughter connected with her, having just returned from three years at the Academy of Art. We went out after and talked about it all. I had Coke and no Jack. Who needs it, I have my tincture and tea now.
Comments (32)
…i worked in five elements too….manure, mud, oil, red tape and bullshit…but my lectures probably wouldn’t be as enlightening…any stress i ever faced was best relieved through massage…you asked for engagement…now back to your story ; )
She talked real fast…Did she slow down after your comment? I love the idea that we wake up each morning a new person….if each day is a new day…and we are new in it life has endless possibilities. I know nothing about the five elements so I will start with wikapedia and see what happens….
what’s this woman’s name???
because I’d love to catch her lecture if she’s ever anywhere near where I live–
it sounds fascinating, and I’d love to meet her as well.
(although that nose sound and lip twitching thing is something I’ll totally have to ignore.)
You are such a source of knowledge (the sort that really intrigues my curiosity about the “unseen” world). I’ve dabbled in Feng Shui, but have never read wehre the elements correlate to specific organs in the body (unless I’ve always just completely missed that info).
actually, I’d love to meet you, even more!
oooooooo lectures. I have a hard time sitting thru them as I have pain problems. However, there was a really good speaker yesterday at the CofC meeting. She was blonde with a really high voice which I find grating. She was a communication major from Texas Tech which is known for their communications dept. I forgot about her grating high voice as she spoke on goal setting. The funny thing was, not only did she have the really high voice but long blonde hair. She graciously, humorously made fun of herself during this talk. She held my attention and not once did I feel like walking out. She was Jerry Saville’s daughter (famous preacher in these parts). have a great day!
i was gonna ask about blacksmiths in this day and age…then i remember my family’s reunion grounds—the second floor/second tote board of any racetrack in the world
This post makes me happy. I, too, must say that everything is a metaphor. This is something I have seen in minmiature and believe mostly by faith. I hope to open my eyes to the metaphor. I have this thing about creation as the true language and every other language, oral or written, is an imperfect iteration of the one. But I digress.
My grandmother has a friend named Helen Newell, of whom she always says: “she’s so smart it’s almost a handicap.” This woman is thin and well-groomed and speaks a million miles a minute. I used to envy people this amazing mental metabolism, but it takes all kinds, right?
Bless you Prudy
interesting that you were intelligent enough to move past the nose and voice to the words… i have a tendency to quit listening and live in a world inside my own brain if listening is that much work!
Um, me…that’s who needs it. You saw my list. I’ll take your Jack, please…
Interesting piece you wrote here. Joel corilates like that all the time. Water/Kidneys stuff. He will say this is a water year Missy, you must watch you Kidneys. Powerful stuff you write about. I too would like to hear what this young lady has to say. Waking up someone different everyday isn’t too far fetched in my mind so I wonder who I shall BE today. Thanks for sharing all this I loved reading it. Marilyn
Great character sketch, wonderful synopsis of the talk, and all encased in your life, your subjective experience, your take… these splices of your life are beautifully written. I love reading them- you do ‘journaling’ like no-one else here, seemingly with ease taking a sketch of daily life to a greater level of meaning, giving the characters a glow, teaching us about an area of knowledge, imparting wisdom somehow. I hope you or your daughters collect these pieces someday and make the book out of them that they deserve. xo
tincture and tea…sounds wonderful to me…where do you live that you are able to go to these lectures…i’ll have to look when i get back to your main page…
I would have had a hard time getting past the facial and voice tics and hearing the story. But you did, and you conveyed her story to us beautifully.
This woman does sound amazing.
I am not on lectures much either but I think I could have listened intently to her’s.
As for the post, just blabbering,. I did make the size larger.Sorry about that.
I hope you have a good weekend.
Peace and Love:)
Hey, thanks for the comment on my site! Wow, really small world hunh? Your blog is intriguing. I believe you have given me things to research! Woohoo!
So interesting to experience. Reminds me of the tonal sounds that resound in the universe.
What a fascinating lecture!
i not only can SEE metaphors, i run around randomly creating them
As for the comment about MY “fans”…those are the little shitheads that you pick up when you get on featured…and 9 times out of TEN they don’t have the abilities to detect sarcasm and satire…but then again, a LOT of people come on my site hating me then figure out what i’m doing after a while
What an interesting review of an intriguing person. I wouldn’t mind meeting a few of those.
I love you…GFW
Fascinating stuff… btw, was your daughter at the SF Academy of Art? I’ve heard fantastic things about it.
What a fascinating subject…sounds like you’re hooked! Schweet.
RYC: Sometimes I feel it, then sometimes I feel like an alien, its silly I know,but its just me.. I feel connected to many people but as I said, still feel like an outsider at times.
Hope you are well .
Peace and Love:)
you are definitely experiencing interesting things lately! Good for you!
awww… you remembered last year’s thanksgiving party — it’s been quite a year…i’m wrapping up the first part of a manuscript, fyi. we’ll see how it goes…
Chinese master? Sounds like a good story.
You always write about the most interesting things and people. I’d probably have passed up this speaker altogether and missed someone unique and memorable.
I mistyped your name! Your here and so am I
That woman will burn out, she’s living too fast. She may have learned how to sit still (for now) but she’ll be onto something else tomorrow. Interesting person though.
For some reason, you’re not showing up on my digests and I keep missing your posts.
Sounds like a wonderful experience. One of the schools of thought I brushed against years ago compared discovering the elements to initiations, and contained the belief that we continuously discover/are initiated through them each time we travel around the spirals we go through in our lives. Very interesting.
T
She sounds like an Aspie!
Happy Thanksgiving…save a turkey….eat a tofurkey
For ydurp (Namste) RYC I know,knowing who I am an ordinary selishly inlined person that I am no better then most folk..your mother heart would take you where mine has..absolutely if it were faced with the challenge,,,I have the sane mix of aggravation and love and guilt that you describe at times when it comes to my other kids…and would jump at the chance to disengage some days I dare say towards Joseph..but he ,rat that he is can guilt me into things quicker then they…but it is a gift to have the comparison so readily available between being ordinary and free…and not like Joe I am posting this at my site too …
sounds like a mentor-learn all you can to add to your life.
RYC: that was another copyright watermark.
I laughed and laughed at Myki’s nose posting.