Letting go of knowing the answer + Intention Jewelry: Being a Container

Hello, It has been a while since I posted my last Journal entry I’ve been busy in my studio, playing and experimenting with new techniques. Exciting new projects are in the works. As I begin to craft my Container Jewelry Collection I ponder about my obsession with knowing the answer when I or another is in pain. 

I feel responsible to save and to fix when someone close to me is suffering. I put pressure on myself to know the answer. If I don’t know the answer, what use am I to the other? This thought keeps me from being present. 

Thought: Maybe it’s not about me? Is it enough to just be? Listen and witness? Be a container? Could I hold space for them to just be as they are, at that moment, free from advice, free from fixing? 

Noticing: In the moments when I am able to refrain from saving or fixing or judging, I feel lighter. I experience the welcome relief from thinking about myself. The act of staying in the moment and simply holding space for another seems to directly affect how I witness my own suffering. Me being able to hold space for someone else somehow also helps me hold space for myself. Also, me being able to hold space for myself allows me to hold space for another.

The compassion I feel for the other overflows. It accidentally spills out onto me. 

Even with this revelation, this knowing. My inner conflict continues. The forgetting and remembering continue. The superhuman ability to be a container seems like a power that only certain people possess. 

Have you experienced being a container or having someone be a container for you? What was it like? Do you prefer being saved or being heard? 

Take away: I don’t have to be right. I don’t need to know the answer. I can simply be there, hold space for myself or another. I can be a container.

On day 84 + 85 + 86 of my #100DaysofMaking project, I reflected on what it means to be a container. A container for healing, a container for love, a container for joy. What does if feel like to hold space for someone in need.

I created these necklaces to be a tangible reminder of my intention: I am listening. I am curious. I can hold space with love. I can be a container.