Tread carefully, you could be walking on eggshells, or skating on thin ice

coloured pencil drawing:

hands, feet and 'the negative space'

This drawing started with an outline drawing of my feet, which I coloured in using two amazing thick pencils with multi-coloured 'lead', then I added the hands, and finally the containing darker shape around the whole image, which is curiously like an 'alien' head. I remember my high school art teacher saying 'notice the negative space' in an image, which is the shape that contains or surrounds the other 'positive' shapes. Thanks Mr Ritchie! This negative space gives definition to the positive, creates contrast, and perhaps also symbolically reminds us that we can't avoid the negative... 

I was thinking prosaically about my feet, because I sprained my ankle a week ago, and so have been noticing ungratefully the limitations this minor injury has imposed on me. This coincided with a mild cold, and with S being away, which has meant I have been feeling less than excellent, and with more to do than usual, in the past few days. The main undesirable change has been fewer options at the gym; in fact I have only been there twice this week, for a PT (personal training) session and a body balance class, which is relaxing and not stressful to ankles.

So I was thinking, before I made this image, about the many metaphors in English involving feet or walking, such as the sensible: 'taking baby steps'; the ecologically responsible: 'tread lightly' and 'leave only your footprints behind'; 'walking on eggshells', often used by clients to describe the experience of living with a violent partner, and my favourite, which is not actually about walking at all: 'when you are on thin ice, skate fast!'.

Why hands? I have just started reading a book called The case for working with your hands, or why office work is bad for us and fixing things feels good, by Matthew Crawford. Written by a Brit with a PhD in political philosophy, Crawford explains why he gave up his well paid job in a 'think tank' after 5 months, to become a motorcycle mechanic. He was much happier with this second occupation, which combines complex problem-solving with manual work. I found that my lack of knowledge of engines was a limitation to fully appreciating this book, but I think I got the gist of his argument. My brother, who spent years living with greasy parts of old Norton's or BSA's strewn around his living room, would definitely get it.

Its possibly just a new take on the Marxist theory of alienation - which occurs if workers are removed from the means of production, and become parts of a factory assembly line instead. However, Crawford is also arguing that making (or fixing) things with your hands somehow 'feels right': after all, we evolved into humans with this unique brain and hands connectivity. We think about how to solve problems, and we do something to try to solve them.  And as an art therapist, I can see some useful parallels. Put simply: perhaps we can 'fix our troubled minds' by making things with our hands. One of my adolescent clients actually wrote 'you need hands' on one of his artworks. And then there was this:

I went to my office on Thursday, to find that a jackhammer one floor below was creating a 'no thinking zone' in the entire wing of the hospital where I work. Actually that's not true - there were some thoughts - but not work related ones. I then found out there was no power, and I was close to giving up and going home, but I had a couple of meetings scheduled, which it would have been annoying (and rude) to miss.

I stayed, the noise subsided and the power was restored, so I started working on a new database we have to learn, to deliver our courses more effectively, or something. Within an hour, I could feel RSI coming back to my right wrist, which happens when I do too much mouse clicking. Ankles, wrists, if I was looking for a pattern I'd find one here.  Then I realised my hour of database training had taught me how to create things (i.e. folders), but not to delete them if I made them in the wrong place....Yes, its been a challenging week: the meetings, however, were rather more productive and enjoyable.

In ACT, the importance of our committed actions, which usually involve using our hands and our feet, are emphasised. In this case, not leaving when I felt like it, was the important action, if inaction can be called an action.

In relation to my last post, I noticed that Justin Bieber believes that 'everything happens for a reason'. Apparently this includes rape. Enough said.

More later.