Even in the Bronx

I spent a bit of time on the backporch at Anne's because that's where I got the best cell phone reception. So I was all yackity-yack and I looked down, and there was a 4-leaf clover. I picked this one and taped it to a piece of paper with a note to Anne that she would find it at just the right time. Then I stuck it in a book in her kitchen. :-) Back tomorrow....

When sneakers just won't do

On the way to Jerry Stocking course, we saw this:


Me: Heels when you want them? What?
Anne: For those stiletto emergencies.
Me: Really? Wow, New York has everything!
[Sigh from the backseat] Anne's daughter: It's missing the "W." It's supposed to be "Wheels when you want them."
Me: Oh, well. I suppose that makes more sense. Not as glamorous, tho.

I checked out the website for Zipcar. Way COOL! If I were a City Girl [ as if! ] I might look into this.

4 Phrases

What would you do if all you could say were these 4 phrases?

Go to lunch at awesome Indian restaurant, of course:



Hilarity ensues as Anne switches from pantomiming to note-writing on napkins. Love the look on Suzie's face!

Finally I waved at Anne & pointed at her food. "Sweetie?" I asked; an invitation to eat. I have to thank Anne. She indulged me for the whole weekend, because this is the only place we ate during the seminar. They have the best chai. The BEST, Jerry! This is Fenil:

Sweet tea from a Sweetie. :-)

She takes our visits in stride because she knows something is up when we talk or don't talk. They have tiny cups for the chai, so I brought in a Big Girl Cup. YUMmy.

We chatted with our 4 phrases to & from the restaurant. Anne walked up to a coupla police officers and said, "I care." She did the same with some homeless people. WOW. A friend of Jeff & Suzanne's just happened to walk by. It took a couple phrases for him to notice that things were a bit, er, different. It's easy to do the smile-and-wave; a bit harder to do a stop-and-chat when you're limited to 4 phrases. At one point, the "I'm confused," came out and Friend says, "You're confused? I'm confused! I'll talk to you later." And then we waved good-bye.

It doesn't seem to matter what the 4 phrases are. Last time was just as entertaining. For those of you who may be wondering the point of the exercise, I invite you to try it. Why? Because why not?

A few NYC images

George Washington Bridge

Arrival to Anne's sweet neighborhood

Bumper sticker for Mum. :-)

Electronic Mecca.

Couple skate.

On our way out of town.

End of the day . . . .

In New Rochelle at a diner. :-)

I'm slapping up some photos and will write about my Jerry Stocking NYC adventures in the next few posts. For now, I've got many busy's to attend to. Back tomorrow. :-) H.

Michael??? Jerry Stocking Part 2

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Jerry gave us an assignment during lunch. Not something we had to do, but we got to. So Anne & I were off to the Indian restaurant across the street, all ready to catch up with each other's lives. Armed with 4 phrases we were allowed to say, with an optional 5th phrase:

There was lots of pointing to order lunch. It was a buffet, so it wasn't too complicated. We were v. quiet & didn't speak, and I pointed at the biggest vat of chicken tikka masala, nodding my head. I looked over and Anne was writing instructions on the take-out menu: 1/2 palak paneer, 1/2 something else. And soup. It was v. funny. There were 2 women at the table next to us, unrelated to our Jerry Stocking Tribe, chatting away, Blah blah blah. And then she said, This is very complicated. Funny how things get on our radar.

After lunch we went for a walk . . . and I took a few pix:


This was a really cool store with decorative things. Anne's hair sort of matched the colour and twistiness of the tree branches, so I was trying to capture that. We went into a plant store, and it could have been Anywhere, USA instead of NYC:

Michael.

I got the most verbal when I saw this:

And spat out all 5 phrases in rapid succession. It's the Subud symbol, something I grew up with.


"Michael?" Anne asked as I was taking the above photo. I laughed. I thought it was funny. It... slays me. Hahahaha

I was v. grateful for the 2-syllable Michael. It became, hello, good-bye, thank you, pretty, excuse me, awesome! and for the above photo, really? It was not so complicated, altho perhaps people around us may have been a bit confused. It was rather nice having a break from language. And then! we had an exercise where we had no language. But that's tomorrow's post. Michael!

Blah Blah Blah Jerry Stocking

People ask me about Jerry and I have a hard time giving the 30-second elevator summary of what he's all about. But just as I write this, I come to this conclusion: He's all about you. What do you want from your life? What do you want from yourself? What do you want from your relationships? He's brilliant at zoning in and helping you see your patterns--whatever they may be. He pulls your head out of the sand, or for some people, other places. He shines the light on those dark places that need healing. He . . . I need an auditory metaphor here . . . .

Anyway, I invited my old college friend, Anne, to Jerry's introductory talk on Friday night. During the break, we had a chance to talk and she just kept saying, "Wow. I get it!" She was even going to join for the weekend course. Jerry wanted to do a word-association exercise before we left for the evening and so he used Anne & another gal to demonstrate. It's all fun and games until someone gains awareness. She thought he was making fun of her response and nothing could convince her otherwise. I, being the lifelong friend I am, recognized this particular pattern. I called it "being present" for her . . . and turned my back. She's under the bus with Jerry. She'll be fine.

So there was a bit of dramedy with it all, and as we're walking to her car, I managed to calm her down a bit, but she said she was not coming back for the weekend. Blah blah blah she was embarrassed blah blah blah. And then. Then! She realized she'd left her coat. We walked back and couldn't get into the building. I said, "Perhaps this is the universe telling you that you need to come for the weekend." And . . . she did:

Sooooooup?

So she thought that Jerry was making fun of her for the way she said, "Soup." It was an old pattern of feeling embarrassed in school. No matter what anyone said, she was stuck there thinking we were all laughing at her. We weren't, but she couldn't see it. That's what happens when you get stuck; you don't have other ways of doing, being, seeing available to you. And then! It shifted, and she got it. Jerry is fond of saying, "Get it?" Yeah! What was also interesting about this interaction, was that there was a "Life Coach" who sided with Anne on Friday night and was reinforcing her reaction. Jerry later emailed her because she had been so concerned. He told her that Anne had joined for the weekend. As it turns out, she wasn't concerned about Anne. It was all the stuff it brought up in her. Isn't that interesting? We think an outside event did something to us, when really it was the catalyst for something inside us, already there.

Anne & I were looking forward to lunch that first day, so that we could catch up. And then! because it's Jerry, could we have a normal lunch? Hahahaha Of course not. But you'll have to wait til tomorrow to find out what happened. In the meantime, I will tell you this: guess what Anne had for lunch. That's right . . . soup.