Advent Day Nine: The time is always now
December 9, 2015
Advent Day Eleven: Time Change/Change Time
December 11, 2015Reframe: Reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives, as defined in the Cognitive Reframing entry on Wikipedia. 
I have this new practice in my life. I use it mostly when I am overly anxious, but it can work for a variety of emotions/feelings. I imagine the space in my brain that is filled with anxiety (annoyance, frustration, depression, pain, enter your own feeling) shrinking or balling itself up like a damp piece of paper into a tight little wad. Then I imagine tossing that little spit ball of anxiety off the bridge two miles in our back woods into the brook and it getting taken away by the current and beaten up and dissolved into nothingness. I follow that with a few deep breaths and quiet time, and typically feel a little better. To end, I reframe the situation into some kind of positiveness and try to return to my day.
Today’s collage isn’t finished. I can’t quite reframe my day to explain why. I wasn’t able to finish it this morning, and who knows, maybe I will finish it tonight. How would your finish this collage? Can you imagine what I am planning on adding to it? Feel free to send me guesses…
3 Comments
For reasons I can’t quite explain, I might slice out a very thin strip of deep dark red and float it vertically on the left side (looking at it) approximately a quarter inch from the the edge.
Just a quick and completely intuitive response. However, probably not at all what you had in mind. I also like the collage just the way it is – especially when thinking about the companion piece of your writing. (Perhaps, my red strip is symbolic of something intense – silently hovering – a presence in what seems to me like a beckoning expanse – a distant scape – on the left.
I like the idea of the red strip…I was thinking of white or red dots either there or going through the blue. And I know that I won’t add anything now. The time for the making this collage is passed. Your writing is equally inspiring: “silently hovering”. I will hold that in my mind’s eye for a while…
How fun…the fabric image on the left of collage represents to me the tight wad breaking up and flowing down the river. I would add on the turquoise paper a hand tossing a globe/ball. I might want that image placed inside a frame! Thank you Melanie for your brilliance and open heart!