Releasing the Bad Spirits of 2011, Welcoming the Positive Sprites of 2012 - A Performance done for Myself
At sunset on December 31:
1. Unroll a long piece of white paper from a scroll
2. Write across it in very large letters:
"Goodbye to all the Bad Spirits of the Last Year, 2011"
Note: Bad Spirits of 2011 included four in-patient hospital stays, several rounds of out-patient day treatment, several new medications that didn't help, a round of 20 electro-shock treatments that didn't help and also totally wrecked my memory, months of major depression and anxiety, plus cancelled, missed and forgotten opportunities.
3. Tear the paper into a number of smaller pieces, and crumple each piece into a ball.
4. Go outside with paper balls and a metal bucket.
5. Put the first ball into the bucket and set it on fire.
6. Enjoy watching it burn, concentrating on releasing all the bad spirits of 2011.
7. Add each ball in succession until all are burned.
On New Year's Day
8. On small strips of paper, write the qualities I aspire to welcome into my heart in 2012:
Generous
Creative
Open-hearted
Positive, happy
Grounded, centered
Flow (as in, allow the good to flow through me)
9. Go for a walk in a beautiful natural place, in my case the mountain below my house and above Barcelona.
10. Select spots to 'plant' each seed/quality, under a rock, in a tree, in a puddle.
11. Think about the seed of each quality sprouting and growing in me during 2012.
At sunset on December 31:
1. Unroll a long piece of white paper from a scroll
2. Write across it in very large letters:
"Goodbye to all the Bad Spirits of the Last Year, 2011"
Note: Bad Spirits of 2011 included four in-patient hospital stays, several rounds of out-patient day treatment, several new medications that didn't help, a round of 20 electro-shock treatments that didn't help and also totally wrecked my memory, months of major depression and anxiety, plus cancelled, missed and forgotten opportunities.
3. Tear the paper into a number of smaller pieces, and crumple each piece into a ball.
4. Go outside with paper balls and a metal bucket.
5. Put the first ball into the bucket and set it on fire.
6. Enjoy watching it burn, concentrating on releasing all the bad spirits of 2011.
7. Add each ball in succession until all are burned.
On New Year's Day
8. On small strips of paper, write the qualities I aspire to welcome into my heart in 2012:
Generous
Creative
Open-hearted
Positive, happy
Grounded, centered
Flow (as in, allow the good to flow through me)
9. Go for a walk in a beautiful natural place, in my case the mountain below my house and above Barcelona.
10. Select spots to 'plant' each seed/quality, under a rock, in a tree, in a puddle.
11. Think about the seed of each quality sprouting and growing in me during 2012.
