FIll in the…

 DON’T FILL IN THE ….

Think outside the ….

Would  you like paper. Or ….

It’s not black or ….

Okay we’ll come back to this in a bit.

B.B. King and a bunch of other musicians  have said  it’s not just the notes, it’s the spaces in between.  Well maybe so and yet when  you or I tell someone “how a song goes” we rarely say it has this piano part and then it’s silent for  a third of a second—now do we?  Well stop and think about it what would music be without the silent spaces? Well it would be a long tone that varied some in frequency but there would be no rhythm or tempo.  

Now let’s take a trip. Into  the woods or into my side yard where it’s often relaxing and rewarding to build a small  or (sometimes  large dangerous)  fire.  How do you get the best fires going?  So you start with small dry stuff and then go a little larger and a little harder  as the fire gets  going.  However. Do you just throw all this stuff into a pile or a stack?  No you angle things and lean things till you have sort of a triangle or tepee shaped pile.  Why?  Because the fire needs the space to breathe or get air/oxygen.  It short, the fire needs the space in between.  

Now let’s go back to. The top…. 

How quickly  did your mind complete these phrases?  

What if  your dentist says  “these teeth will probably fall out  next  week  and that’s what kid’s teeth do .  Would you like me to fix the cavities in them?”  Now finish the phrase “don’t fill in the ….” 

What  if you found yourself  in what you thought was an empty swimming pool and you were just floating  around wondering what you might want for lunch when you noticed a menacing fin circling  about thirty  feet away wouldn’t your mind tell you think outside the pool?

In a game of rock paper  or scissors  where someone  shows  rock would you like paper or….—you get the point  yet?  

How you Have to fill in the empty space  or even if you have to fill it in is not black or….

Maybe  seeking peace and joy includes  moments of silence, moments where we don’t rush to fill in blanks, moments when we allow others to think before responding.  We don’t have to hit the thumb  immediately or hit reply less than a minute after getting that message.  Our minds are wonderful idea generating machines when we give them a moment to gain speed on the runway and take off and when we don’t  we might just be driving planes around the airport.  Well… I have about another 20 seconds worth of content for you to rad… but given why I have to say and what. You might do with the  space…. I think I owe you the …..