Not building a wall but making a brick

It all began with watching a programme about Brian Eno via the good services of BBC iplayer. I found the programme interesting especially the unexpected remembrance of finding the box of cards with words on them I discovered back in the 70’s in a second hand bookshop which he and another fellow had put together as aid to creativity thought and to my mind then and now a little silliness. But I could see that they could spark off other thoughts and thus clear the way to carry on working in a different way for some people so I bought the box for a birthday present and let it go with a smile. Seems I should have kept hold of it as they became rather valuable as a collectors item but I’m glad I gave it away as the person who received it was pleased and I have gone on to write my own cards through the years.:0)

The title to this post was on one of the cards, no I didn’t sneak it out of the box nor did I remember it over all these years as some sort of mantra, I looked it up after the programme and found the box has now be reissued in a slightly different form and offered at a price that means you’d have to really feel a need could be met by words on a 100 small cards written by someone else.

I thought about it for a while as I clicked through some of the other ‘nuggets’ found on these cards and asked myself would I actually buy the box if I had that money to spare hanging around. I decided the answer is definitely a no not because I think it is a whole load of baloney, I do actually see the point of breaking creative blocks or patterns of living etc but think that for me at least creating cards with words on is something I have done all my life be that actually on cards, pieces of paper, till receipts or in my head. 

I have been known to leave a lecture and have A4 pages of doodles and just one or two lines of words but not only do those pages of doodles add up to the lecture for me which if required I can write a report or essay from but the words I write down are for me and stay long after any discussion about the lecture. Throwaway lines are never such when a mind or heart stops and turns and says you said what? And hastily needs to write that down because of the understanding it imparts, that it’s important maybe just for that moment but more often for a moment yet to arrive.

One of the other lines I found on one of Brian Eno’s cards said this ‘Repetition is a form of change’, which made me smile because for the last 27 days that’s exactly what I have been engaged in. I may not have posted here but each day I’ve posted on my Blue Moon Blog I set myself a goal of posting every day for the whole of 2010 in a two line four line rhythm with notes to myself and a photo taken on that day but knew it needed to become as much of a habit as goal so what energy I’ve had I’ve used to try to harness a few words and an image each day.

Some days it has been a real struggle but looking back I find I am writing my own kind of diary plus a poem of sorts which pleases and surprises me. Trying to put my day into two or four lines has been interesting especially as the day begins to draw to an end as I have to try and actually consciously remember which is always somewhat of magic trick for me.

The repetition of each days posting at Blue Moon Year is indeed a form of change though it wasn’t till I stopped to look back did I realise that process has begun to change things beyond the page and know I will continue this now even if I may not always have internet access the lessons learned in keeping a diary that doesn’t name names, or even flesh out happenings but offers brief notes of ideas, books, music and silence seems enough to go on with 

My thought is now to post here a little more frequently than of late, which won’t exactly take much. Back to posts of writing and finding out what I am thinking, what I know and have forgotten I know and all the rambling in between. There will be pictures here no doubt plus anything else that pops in to my mind as something I want to explore. After all this blog is as much a card with a line on that helps me think as anything.

As to not building a wall but making a brick, now that is open for interpretation to anyone reading this:0)