The Weavings of your Life     

“So many weavings in your life! They are the roots of your everyday Magic. Who knows what beautiful fabric you shall weave?”

These weavings create the story that you are writing of your life. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you have all the yarns in your hands, weaving the tapestry of your life in ideas and events and people.

Weaving Your Tapestry: a Metaphor

This tapestry is your own personal metaphor.

Sometimes it feels challenging to grasp the bigger idea or the deeper story of YOU. Thus, a metaphor compares the beautiful woven threads of a tapestry to the vivid moments of your life weaving together.

The ancient Greeks created the word metaphor from pherein, meaning “to carry”, and meta, meaning “beyond”. Clearly, a metaphor carries you beyond a basic concept, and makes it readily understandable. Such is the idea behind the meaning of your life.

This is precisely what Dearie is doing in Becoming Jesse when she tells him the metaphor of the countless threads that we weave:

“We are like the yarn on the loom,

humming and weaving together

as the warp and the woof,

weaving our own fabric in our own life.”

Becoming Jesse traces the love stories and big dreams of a young boy, Jesse O’Neil, in his apartment home in 1950s NYC.

As Jesse moves through his days, he weaves his threads through his life… and beyond: because in the beyond he experiences a meta-physical exploration of the spiritual. Jesse describes it as his Inner Light. It is what his love-adore grandmother, Dearie, calls his everyday Magic.

It is that unseen power weaving through the fabric of his life.

Your Weavings

Many, many times, in your own life, you have glimmers of the weavings of your own Magic: something inexplicable, something under the surface of everyday things. It is often labeled as extrasensory perception, or clairvoyance, or simply a sixth sense.  Sometimes it’s a tingling sensation, or perhaps a voice. Maybe you have a sense of enlightenment… a new idea… or a glintaling of what is to come next.

Jesse has such glimmers – and is unafraid to weave them into his life. He is fascinated by his own story that pulls back the curtain of everyday experiences and introduces him to the mysterious glitters of what lies within himself, or out there, especially in the beyond (meta).

The story Jesse weaves is a compelling experience, spinning through ruminations on the meaning of life, from the quest for love and dreams, to the real magic of the present moment, and on through the realities of good and bad, finding the affirmations for the joy of living and acceptance of death.

Time Weavings

Like all of us, Jesse is amazed at how a new thread can end up magnifying the weavings of his life, no matter how odd or unimportant it may seem at first. He discovers that the things his mysterious mother has done in the past set up the patchwork-weavings of his today and tomorrow.

You may want to see how to actually weave on a loom. This video says it is a quick overview, but I think it is more like Life itself: you need step-by-step patience and perseverance; not to mention the incredible detail in just preparing the loom before you can start weaving. You may be amazed or overwhelmed. But, truly, it is precisely the same  design and instructions that your brain takes on whenever you learn something new. This is you weaving your life – over and over and over. And the design you create in your weavings is intricately amazing! Like YOU!

Time Past

Childhood often seems like such a magical time because this is where you weave yourself into the world around you. All the stories from books and family lore come alive, and you discover your possibilities: what you wish to do, what you are able to do, what you will do.

You may not realize how the weavings of your past, in your early years, affect your decisions and form your self-image. Criticism or bullying can have an adverse effect that limits your life (I’m not going to try that. I’m not good at anything.) Whereas praise and respect lend empowering support(I can try anything!)

For Jesse, he decides he will begin a Quest. From past weavings, he knows about the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and it is easy for him to imagine and believe that he, too, can fulfill his dream.

Time Present

Whatever happens to you in the Present Moment, it becomes part of your Life story – your woven tapestry. Sometimes it is particular and precise, sometimes it is vague and uncertain. But either way, it leaves you with a feeling: confident and competent or pessimistic and inept.

Your feelings always lie in the way you respond to the Present Moment. Are you negative and defeatist, or are you positive and optimistic?

What Jesse does in the Present Moment is the essence of how he responds to whatever is happening in his life – bad or good.

          He sees “the Morning Sun rise with gold in its mouth.”

          Every day, he sees a “kitchen clock that has no numerals. Each hour always read NOW.”        

             –  reminding him to stay in the Present Moment.

          He considers a tiny, cantankerous lady – not as ill-tempered – but “filled with colors.”

Time Future

We all weave anecdotes and stories to help us figure out what our life is about and where we are going. Plucking from the world around us, we create the characters – especially how they act. We fabricate the plots, too, building the chain of events, defined by how the characters in our life behave. Most of all we envision how we ourselves would or will perform.

Whether we want to or not, our brains automatically weave through what has happened to us, playing and re-playing our good and bad scenarios. This often happens when we are alone, say, in bed at night. We re-tell our story.

The Future finds its path when we find ways to change our story for the better. We weave in new threads so that we feel better about ourselves. It’s our own personal “Do-Over”.

Becoming

Jesse does this when he is drifting into “his deep sleep – his wispy slips” – where his dreams take form and find the path into his future. The wonderful part of this is that he can change his story as he moves through all his weavings. Disappointments can become, simply, the next step in his Quest. It is all part of Jesse’s BECOMING.

Your Masterpiece of Weaving

It’s your loom… and your threads… and certainly, your weavings. Look at the tapestry you have intertwined and fabricated in your life story. Listen to those around you. Listen to yourself. What are the word weavings? Is this the fabric of your life that you wish it to be?

You are the Master Weaver. The loom. And the threads. Every moment. Every day. What is your masterpiece?

“Yes, weaving our own fabric in our own life,” Dearie smiled. “And one day, who knows what beautiful fabric we shall weave. So fine.” She bent over Jesse and kissed his cheek. “Light on, Jesse. My brillish boy.”

LIGHT ON!