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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Pay it Forward

One of the qualities I admired most about my mother was her generosity.  She lost it and her tact with a massive stroke twelve years before she died.  I have already lost my tact, though many would argue I never had any.  I hope to remain generous.  Whenever I sell a painting, I buy another artist's work.  What comes around, goes around. I was talking to my acupuncturist (who is not only talented but young and lovely) about creativity. She went to art school but said she really loved music more.  I asked when she had last played and she replied, about a year ago because her clarinet had broken.  When asked, she said it would cost about $100 to fix but that financially, repair was a luxury.  I haven't sold a painting lately but I had my 'card' money. ( I sell note cards with images of my work for $5. After paying for the state tax, the cards, the cellophane envelopes, the premium photo paper and genuine Epson ink, I probably make less than 35 cents a card.  I try to ignore that.)  At the end of my session I gave her a hundred dollars of card money and told her to get her clarinet repaired.  What comes around, goes around.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Ties that Bind

My qi is in knots.  A Gordian Knot of the twelve pulses.  If this reads like gibberish, I hope you will forgive me.  Acupuncture  is my favorite hour of the week.  The first several sessions she  drained my stagnated qi.  Apparently I have quite a log jam.  (Small wonder, given the arsenal of migraine pharmaceuticals I took for decades.) Last week she made the pain in my shoulder, that was getting much worse with physical therapy, go away.  I was amazed.   This week she addressed my "cold qi" with a glass cup suctioned over my belly button.  No ice crystals formed.  I  have no idea how acupuncture works, but she can stick me with needles 'til the cows come home.