Discomfort

I've been thinking about discomfort recently. Buddhism and Stoicism (and probably other philosphies and religions) suggest we develop resilience by exposing ourselves to discomfort, starting with little things and working our way up. I find it difficult to manufacture uncomfortable situations, be they physical or mental or emotional. For one thing, everyday life seems to offer up plenty of opportunities for experiencing discomfort, especially lately. How we respond to those opportunities reveals our character. Being reactive or fearful rarely helps; having empathy for others and listening does. Not only must we learn to sit with our own pain but with the pain of others as well. I need more practice at that.

Knitting: I finished the Ivy socks. Time for a break from knitting.
Spinning: I blended some of the purple merino with the angelina, using a drum carder. I plan to spin it up before continuing, in case I don't like how it spins.
Weaving: I took the current piece off the pocket loom but could not figure out why there was a ridge near the bottom. A day later it occurred to me that that was a row of soumak, to aid in turning the edge. Duh. Now I need to repeat that at the top.

This past week I participated in my first Zoom meeting, with the spinning guild. Or tried to participate. There was something lacking in my connection - it kept cutting out with the message that the connection was unstable. It was particularly bad when I said anything. So I just sat there and listened to everyone else. Not a bad practice. ;-)