{"id":12839,"date":"2023-09-07T08:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T15:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=12839"},"modified":"2023-09-07T09:30:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T16:30:41","slug":"still-in-progress-but-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2023\/09\/still-in-progress-but-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Still in progress, but better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve done a lot of cleaning and organizing. My art room feels better. Not there yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My work desk is an old wallpaperer’s table. It’s just the right dimensions for the space, which thrills me today just as much as it did when we moved in. However, the surface is not flat. This causes a lot of difficulty, when cutting especially. Somehow I manage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Newly neatened workdesk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The guest room still has a lot of the stuff that was crammed into the art room. It is in somewhat manageable piles at this point. I have a feeling much of it will go in the trash, reducing by size quite a bit. But – I need to go through it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Travel-related ephemera and journals, old acrylic paints, bags of old writing and notes, quantities of containers, boxes of small keepsakes <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Empty cardboard and shoe boxes (may be needed0, piles of magazines and calendars, some old computer stuff, plastic box of miscellaneous papers (for collage), cardboard box of my dad\u2019s work papers\/blueprints <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This process has been intense and not enjoyable. I’m glad I’m doing it though. I was feeling dragged down by the accumulations of things that aren’t meaningful and that I probably will never use. Did I think I would be making so many collages that I needed so much paper? I don’t really make many collages at all. Is it a packrat tendency? My dad was a bad packrat, I’d even say a hoarder. He filled up a three-story house with piles of magazines and newspapers, and other things his children, mostly a brother and a sister, eventually had to throw into dumpsters. I have a few of his things, carefully chosen. The cardboard box of his papers came with me at the last minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it’s an experience of letting go. I think it’s time to switch focus. To start enjoying the new space more and taking a slower pace with the remaining piles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace at windthread is talking about “release.” It is a strong theme in my life right now. A quote from my favorite Buddhist teacher of the moment, Ajahn Sucitto, just a fragment, but it’s sticking in my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“the possibility for a beautiful, enhancing life that actually is taking release as its theme…”<\/p>\nAjahn Sucitto, from audio here: The Domain of Release<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve done a lot of cleaning and organizing. My art room feels better. Not there yet. My work desk is an old wallpaperer’s table. It’s just the right dimensions for the space, which thrills...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334,497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-objects","category-spaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12839"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12842,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12839\/revisions\/12842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}