Pema Chodrum again

Actually I have been quilting, two in the star series in quick sequence, not quite done but maybe tomorrow with pictures, or maybe the next day, quilting is always a more labor intensive than I expect it will be. I was standing in a line yesterday and heard two young women behind me. One said, "It was a tiny quilt and it cost $100." I couldn't help but turn around and say, "Quilting is very labor intensive." One of the young women said, yes, her mother was quilting something and had be at it for three months.

Today I was putting price tags on the dozen attic window type wall quilts I hope to sell next week at the guild's boutique at the Show. Practically giving them away at $50. But, in fact, I want them out of the closet. I'm willing to take whatever my portion of that will be and let the guild have their portion but for closet space. Those who live in houses with attics, spare rooms, garages, and lots of closets cannot understand the "closetphohia" of an apartment dweller.

As noted in the title a little bit of Pema's good sense -- it being Sunday, I'm in a bit of a Sunday mood. Here's a quote from THE WISDOM OF NO ESCAPE: The truth you believe in and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything else. ... Holdling onto beliefs limits our experience of life. ... using your belief system this ways creates a situatio in which you choose to be blind insead of being able to see , deaf instead of being able to hear, to be dead rather than alive, asleep rather than awake. She later mentions the well known dictum "when you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha." Which she says means, really look at what you believe, look at it from all angles, get to know it well and you will no longer put it on a pedestal.

This makes sense to me; I think it will not make sense to many people who haven't been reading Pema Chodron. I suggest, if you're curious, pick up any one of her slender books which are written in the most accessible, understandable way and look at them ... critically. Very critically. Looking to see it it makes any sense to you. If not, okay. She is not writing to convert anyone. Her talks have been collected and published because students have found them useful. I find her writing so full of good sense, it gives me considerable peace.

Another short quote: " ... the desire to change is fundamentally a form of aggression toward yourself." Yes, this goes against allthe self-help books on the shelves. Acceptance is possibly the hardest lesson she is trying to teach.