Photo courtesy the Metadyne Website
"London Underground Platform Gaps and the origins of Mind The Gap"
Or "Please Mind The Gap" as I've heard more often.
No, this is definitely not a post about the Metro/Underground/Tube/Subway or whatever you call it where you are. The article linked is however a delightful read on the nuances of gaps. Those ever repeating recorded announcements have taken hold of my imagination since forever and they buzzed in my head as my thoughts dwelt on The Gap!
The thoughts came flowing in as I walked home with my loaded shopping bag and started to prepare for shift #3 of my day. And I dropped everything to write this down before the 5 second gap claimed me.
My biggest challenge has been this gap between thought and action, between an idea's birth and its transfer to the neo-natal unit where all such ideas are lovingly nurtured.
Lately I have had my head pounded by public events. The Kolkata Transgender Appointment which was an apparent breakthrough but not, the Kolkata Skeleton Case which an irresponsible police, medical blabbermouths, titillation-crazed media and the general public have made such a mashup of, that the critical thinker truly has no idea where the truth is embedded. Followed by the Marriage Rights Breakthrough in USA that has stirred up a plethora of questions and not a little controversy! There are indeed far too many to list.
In between invariably come challenges faced by myself and my creative collaborators in our individual spheres, as well as changes I have hoped for in my own life. I'm slowly inching towards them, hopefully not stepping back even if I don't appear to stride forward.
The salt and spice of my life in the absence of other creative stimuli, have been the conversations on my own and other people's posts. I get the feeling that my best ideas have been dropped all over the place as Facebook comments, many scattered beads that I am carefully gathering to string together with meaningful interconnections. Indra's Net never got so interesting as it has right here, right now.
Between me and this wonderful creativity comes The Gap.
My 5-second short term memory that's become such a menace, I regularly leave my purchases or a part thereof in shops and have to go traipsing back for them.
Yesterday I took my luchis without the dal at the snack shop, and waltzed off. I did think to myself that the packet was a little light, but hell, these days plastics make light of everything. I was in luck! A kind gentleman who had noticed, followed me at a brisk trot and caught up with me at my next halt to inform me. Luckily I hadn't jumped into a cab and headed home. There is goodness left in the world. And to celebrate it of course, I picked up some mishti-doi for good measure!
Then, there is another kind of gap I struggle with and this sums it up.
"I write much better than I talk
But I talk much faster than I write"
Somewhere in between the two I have to make connections with those who matter. Communicate, given the constraints of time, distance, coordination, my eyes, my migraines ...
If only thoughts could just flow out as well (as they flow IN)......
In response to my expressing a sense of chronic "incompleteness," Kim Raikes reminded me of what she had once shared about "purposeful incompleteness" in a creative venture. It made me realize all the more that this was different. These gaps were not imperfections but brought energy flow to a halt. They could be negative in their effects, draining energies. What I needed was also purposeful! A mindful bridging of gaps, to create a purposeful synergy of art, craft and purpose!
I made two connections that closed the gap between my writing and actually posting these words on this space.
And this is why we need those open channels of communication and connection, especially with creative collaborators and indeed collaborators in the art of living!
And this is why we need those open channels of communication and connection, especially with creative collaborators and indeed collaborators in the art of living!
Right after came a conversation with Sridevi Datta culminating in her (maybe coincidentally?) Facebook post, linking 6 Pieces Of Buddhist Wisdom That Will Transform Your Life.
This little fragment from the article, "but we all do better when we all do better." caught my attention and I responded with
" We don't realize how networked we are and how all these energies flow through the network when we don't block the channels. There is power in the collective and power in the kinetic."
My words automatically flowed into this shared space!
Unplanned though the piece has been, I haven't left it unwritten!
And through all this confusion and my melange of reactions to the various events, viewpoints, crowd behavior et al, and to your conversations with me, has emerged a definition of my own personal needs. Thank You Gap!
Footnote:
All of us have dealt with the challenge of The Gap. Whether its a small space that catches and twists an unwary ankle that happened to slip in, or a yawning chasm that could spell danger, whether its the critical five seconds that intervene between the thought and the deed or a project that lies half complete for years waiting to be resumed, we all deal with it. I hope readers will share through comments, their own experiences of The Gap.Apologies for not providing more links. Trusty old Google is at your service. The gap this time is my eyesight!
Well I suppose that if we were to look at it from earth, Indra's Net would appear to have gaps. As it stretches out across the universe, it reaches from point to point, place to place, person to person, mind to mind. I've never heard anyone explain about the voids in between. I just know that the net works. It's a network. It's an inter-net. We all do our part in keeping it humming. We rely on each other, and on the links in-between.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have those gaps within ourselves too. We have a net inside us, in our inner cosmos, as well as outside us, in the outer cosmos. The gaps in my own net are too many to list. Some of them have to do with the ways in which I dropped the ball with raising my children. Others have to do with the steps I missed in completing my education, in finishing my book, in creating artworks which fell short of my goals. Recently I experienced a theft because of a gap in attention.
The interesting thing about gaps is that they can be filled.
How true! And sometimes we need them between one another to breathe! I do hope my post has set the ball rolling for understanding those gaps, filling them where needed, and leaving them alone or even creating them where necessary. One such gap was the samara tree you mentioned earlier and how it moves some distance from the parent in order to prosper!
DeleteKim, I too contemplate many of the same gaps - what I could have done better raising my daughter, furthering my education, quilts that are not completed and so many more. Thanks for the insight on Indra's Net - "we all do our part in keeping it humming" - love it.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a great read. Yes, I think a lot of people leave their ideas on fb posts & there's their 'gap'. I have a lot of thinking to do to bridge my gaps. One eg is, I haven't worked on a quilting project in a long time just keep 'pinning' ideas on Pinterest. Not a profound gap, but it's mine. Although a physical one it gives me great peace of mind & it is achievable.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to this space Colleen! So happy you finally managed to get in and post.
DeleteI think it is achievable and I feel quilting in the physical sense, mirrors what is happening at a different level in the universe and in our interconnections. It is meditative and helps us feel in harmony with the universe's rhythm and purpose.
Yoga, or the western version of it - another one of my gaps. Want & need to practice primarily for the physical aspect. Have been procrastinating for over a year now but finally found a place that might suit my needs where there are people my age not the 25-35's who I call lulus. They also have a beginners class starting in Sep - right up my alley! Now to persevere...
ReplyDeleteThere was a big gap in my emotional life but the bridge was meeting my current life mate. Although the gap was lonely & introspective, life continued in a rut as I had life obligations - earning a living in a profession I didn't enjoy, raising a very precocious daughter, dealing with family dynamics and a few others. Sound like it was a bad time in my life but quite the contrary. Made lifelong friends at one of the organizations I worked at & through a co-worker, met my husband. This major gap was a life lesson well learned. Like Kim said, 'we rely on each other...'
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing personal story. Thank you so much for reaching out on this space and sharing it. It takes courage to bridge the gap between wanting to share and actually doing so with candor. Blessings on all those who stood by you and on your lovely family.
DeleteI think you never close all the gaps... It's like Buddy Hackett in the back seat trying to weld Herbie as the race progresses ( in The Love Bug ). As soon as you close one, you move on to the next and so on.
ReplyDeleteBut the thing is - some people never figure out where the gaps are and that to meet is a very sad state of affairs. For example, unfortunately, I'll have to point you to this post of mine, where I discuss 2 different people who clearly are unaware of the gaps. https://sloword.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/decided-not-to-decide/
I will take a look at it :)
ReplyDeleteIts true that there are gaps and they trouble until you jump them or a deepest trough is reached from where you can take a longest jump !!☺😊
ReplyDeleteWow I just love this idea of reaching the deepest trough. I love the idea that the impact of falling into it gives you the momentum you need to rise and soar. You continue to inspire me Maitreyee. Keep visiting!
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