The Space Between the Negative and the Positive
Dear Counterpart,
This past week, I’ve been working on the website and print materials for Good Happenstance, the business I’m starting. Right now I’m sitting on the couch next to Jordan, who is editing a documentary about a statue of Billy Frank Jr. The narrator is at the foundry, describing a process that is deeply resonating with me…
The Billy Frank Jr Statue that is going in Statuary Hall
Developing this project feels like creating a statue. Every time I touch the medium, it reveals itself a little more. First: an inkling-a thought without edges, still beyond description. I work the material , pressing with my palms, the heels of my hands. A verse comes to me just as I fall asleep (When you meet the moment…).
A figure has formed- the mold that will hold the true shape of the Thing. It’s not individual mental health counseling, per se. It’s not group work…
What does that mean?
It’s Relational Health and it encompasses history, culture, strengths, preferences. It’s present in the moment, through connection and relationship.
Next, the mold is cut into pieces, dissected. Together, the negative and the positive forms are separated by wax, to be melted out, leaving a space between them. That space is everything. It's where the bronze is poured. It’s where the Idea takes its final form- a solid part to be welded to the others. And piece by piece, the whole sculpture emerges.
Even when completed, the Work is hard to describe. It feels visionary, yet so simple. I know that safety and connection allow us to be in a generative, creative place. I know that relational ‘capital’- cultural practices, art, movement, play, rhythm, repetition, allows us to access states of regulation. What we need is accessible, as long as we are attuned to our environment. As elusive as ‘mental health’ can be, relational health is not. At any given moment, we are surrounded by opportunities to access it.
I’m not sure there’s anything like what I’m envisioning around here. And that fills me with apprehension. I’m trying to build a business within the systems in which I exist, yet outside of the systems that I know. I don’t know what the rules are. Sometimes I feel vulnerable to the Gatekeepers and holders of power. Other times, I don’t care. I say I’ll apologize later, if I need to. I’m trying to ‘be the change I want to see in the world’.
I’m a woman with a vision on a mission.