Saturday, November 19, 2016
Life Practices
From the Songs for the Journey Home, the Eighth Earth Song (Eight of Pentacles); from the Raven Cards, Speak Plainly:
A huge house with a sign reading 'Alchemists and Artists' is filled with people trying out their talents: a designer, a tai chi (or dance) instructor, a masseuse (or reiki practitioner), a gardener, a painter, a seamstress, a baker and an architect (or engineer). It makes me wonder what an illustration of the jobs or activities that I've practiced over the course of my life would look like. Most of the things that I did in the past - preschool teacher, peanut lab assistant, medicinal herb grower, manager and bookkeeper - are things I'm no longer involved in. As I've gotten older, my interests and the talents I pursue have changed. The Raven tells me to speak plainly, directly and truthfully. I occasionally run into people I haven't seen in a long while, and they ask me "Are you still...?" When I tell them no, they don't quite know how to relate to me it seems. They knew me as 'that person' and now I'm not. But if they hang around we can find new ways to relate by sharing what our lives look like now, and how they got that way. Those kind of life stories are almost always interesting and often inspiring.
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The Butcher The Baker The Candlestick Maker. Thank goodness for change. I mentioned earlier this year that I ran into some people that I knew years before doing absolutely the same things and having the same conversations that they did ten years before. No growth no change. That's all they had, and the world was to scary too try something different. Boring
ReplyDeleteI can understand having a lifelong career (there may be stability in that), but to have no other new interests since 20 years have passed seems odd.
Deletedo you remember when we had a line on our income tax forms for occupation? They haven't done it for years but I often thought, at recess IRS employees must have compared the funniest ones. Peanut lab assistant. I once used Wide Load Escort.
ReplyDeleteHeehee, peanut lab assistant does sound a little off the beaten path. :D I was actually testing peanuts for aflatoxin. But the Wide Load Escort is a hoot!
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