Knowing when to Stop

I have STOPED! The thing is, once one is into something, stitching for example, it’s difficut to draw to a close. Pack up threads, scissors, scraps of fabric, samplers. Tidy away.

Here an attempt at Boro, a old Japanese way of patching to extend the use of anything and everything. They would put patches over patches, constantly extending the useful life of the fabric. Old pieces are now collector’s items and rare.

Then there are the finer stitches, rice stitch and the oh so exact running stitch which I learnt from a women in Berkeley Zen Center, years ago. Stitches used for sewing the Kesa by hand.

Stopping is physically stopping, then there is the packing away, chasing stray needles and pins into their places to rest. Gradually the mental buzz subsides. This could be stopping: walking, talking, reading, scratching, worrying, cooking cakes, grooming the cat, playing with the cat. Writing blog posts!

Anybody recognize this process? It’s constant. It’s living. It’s passion. The thing is to know when to stop, pack it in, and move on. I’ve stopped stitching for today!

Stopping can simply mean, in practice, adding in pauses, micro pauses in ones daily activities. If you are a talker your friends will thank you for it.

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2 thoughts on “Knowing when to Stop”

  1. Such a wise post. I am stopping while reading this in a relaxed position for my body. Wonderful treat to stop! Thank you.

    1. Oh Karen. I so understand about the walking slowly either with an adult or child or somebody who just walks slowly. I was on a retreat once in The Netherlands where we were told to walk slowly and not to ah hem, ‘make wind’. That is, not swish about and rush as we tend to do in our tradition. It was like going around with my breaks on however by the end of a couple of days…mellow me. By the end of the retreat having eaten slowly, talked slowly (uh! and smiled a lot cos that was part of the practice) you could have run me over with a steam roller!

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