Journeys of the Heart
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Creating a bowl... for Letting Go
A simple, creative, spiritual practice for bringing attention, intention and
reflection to what may be weighing on your spirit
Presented by Barb Dutchak
Inspired by:
Lisa Rosenstein of the Otis Street Arts Project
Supply list:
~ Scrap paper – old correspondence, newsprint, magazine pages, kraft or white lunch bags, papers that may have some meaning for you because of text or image or color. It doesn’t have to be in great condition … you’re going to fold, spindle and … transform it.
~ Waterproof pens or markers, if you want to make marks or add text to the paper
~ Scissors for cutting down larger sheets of paper
~ Tap water in a pitcher or liquid measuring cup
~ Metal, glass or plastic bowls of various sizes
~ A comfortable work space
And
~ Whatever may be weighing on your spirit.
No one gets through life without experiencing loss and grief, regrets that keep turning up like bad pennies, habits and thoughts that get in our own way, angers and upsets that gnaw at our well-being. Maybe it’s as small as an unkind word given or received in an impatient moment. Maybe it’s the weight of the world bearing down from the day’s news headlines. Or the loss of a loved one … or a friendship gone awry. Or a mean-spirited moment between family members. Or the whole turbulent past year of pandemic. What is weighing on you that might need your deliberate attention, intention and reflection so you can let it go?
Instructions:
1. Choose a piece of paper. Maybe you want to write what you intend to let go, or just set the intention mentally, or maybe it’s already represented by the paper you selected. Choose a bowl that’s smaller in circumference than the paper. The paper doesn’t have to be cut smaller unless there’s so much it would fill the bowl solidly when crumpled.
2. Crumple the paper.
3. Uncrumple it a little and start pressing it into the bowl, shaping it against the sides of the bowl, turning down top edges and points to give the top rim a bit more solidity. But you’re not trying for a straight rim. Let the shape emerge naturally under your gentle fingers.
4. Pour enough water in the bowl to swirl it around and get all the paper wet. Continue pressing the paper into the bowl, working folds flat against the surface. While you’re working, notice how the text and images and the paper itself are being deconstructed and rearranged. Imagine how you might similarly dismantle and reconstruct what’s weighing on you. Take your time. Maybe you will want to make another bowl or two … it can be addictive! Maybe your whole family is making bowls together and talking about what’s bothering them … or just enjoying spending this free-spirited time together.
5. When you’re satisfied with the shape of your bowl, press and pour as much water out as you can. Find a place where your bowl(s) can dry in the bowl-mold(s) overnight. A sunny or warm spot.
6. When the paper is completely dry, gently lift it away from the bowl-mold to retrieve your handmade paper bowl for letting go. You’re ready for the next phase of this spiritual practice.
7. Your bowl needs a visible place of honor for a while. It’s a vessel created by you and it contains a part of you that has been troubling you. It reminds you of your intention to stop ignoring a problem and letting it work its mischief quietly inside, and to give it whatever acceptance, loving kindness, forgiveness, attention, reflection and creative resolution it may need.
This can be the work of days. Or months. You may want to continue making bowls … again … and again.
Pile them into a centerpiece. Revisit the creativity of your choices to use pages with certain text, colors or images. Remember the catharsis of deconstructing and reshaping those pages. Appreciate their tactile and transformative beauty. Imagine that feeling for yourself the day you realize that you really are ready to move on … and let go.
8. When that day comes, plan a ritual for letting go of your bowl full of trouble or heartache.
Find a text to recite. A favorite poem that may speak to the moment. Or search the websites of the Poetry Foundation, Poetry.Org or Year of Being Here for something meaningful. Or choose a UU reading or hymn.
If you can safely do so, find a sheltered spot outside and burn your bowl (on a non-breezy day). Free the bowl, and yourself, of the weight both have been carrying. Express gratitude for its companionship on your journey.
If safety concerns preclude a bowl burning, at least recite a ritual farewell and then tear it up or shred it or ball it up and bin it … or whatever else you can imagine as a satisfying way to both honor and let it go.
Now … what about making a bowl for holding up your fresh hopes for the future?
