taking up space

[asakiyume]

I've been doing writing sessions with adult learners in Holyoke. Last week's theme was "stories they tell," about stories told in your family. The group had great stories to share. There's a website, and gradually, as people give permission, some of their writing will go up there. I was reassuring them that nothing would go up without their permission, and one woman said, "It's okay; I like taking up space in people's mind."

It was such a startling, brilliant remark. I asked her if she'd write it down, and she did, and it's now one of the first things up on the website.

Taking up space

In life, some people get encouraged to take up space, and other people get told to keep out of the way, to make themselves small. I was really glad this woman had decided to assert her right to occupy people's thoughts and attention.

Comments

[amaebi]

Would you mind if I linked to this on facebook? And if you wouldn't mind, how do you feel about having your DW and street names associated with each other?

And if you'd prefer that I not link to this, might I retell it? And associate it with your street name?

[asakiyume]

I don't mind having my street name and DW name linked--that's fine. In this case, I feel like it would be great to highlight Sonia's own words rather than my retelling of them, though. Maybe you could retell the story in your own words, but if you wanted to link to something, link directly to her words?

[amaebi]

Oh, there's the link! Duh. :D

Thank you.

[asakiyume]

♥ thanks for amplifying!

[missroserose]

One of the things I love to say at the end of a yoga class, as people are prepping for savasana: "Let your arms and legs fall where they may. Take up space on your mat." So many people do learn that it's not okay for them to take up space - and even for those of us who're comfortable doing so, living in a city means we're often trying to make ourselves physically smaller by default (sitting on the train, for instance, or standing to the right on the escalator, or squeezing through a crowd). It's nice to give folks permission to re-expand.

[asakiyume]

I like that way of putting it: re-expand!

[petrichor_pirate]

That's a great comment! Sometimes we have to remember that it's okay to take up space.

[asakiyume]

It's definitely okay!

[light_of_summer]

This post seems like it could be a seed for many additional thoughts!

(I'm writing this comment at a not-very-awake hour—I'll let you know if my later thoughts sprout anything interesting from this seed.)

[asakiyume]

I like the color of the not-very-awake hour. Hope you got some sleep after posting!

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

I like that statement too.

[asakiyume]

It was great to see someone asserting their presence.