#156

Ha ha indeed.While folding this birthday greeting I started congratulating myself on how fast I am and how I was doing it without mistakes, and promptly made a mistake in one of the final folds. Then I couldn't post it, so just posted a birthday wish on the actual post and the photo on my own FB, for fun. And I couldn't find the original so I'm not even positive whose birthday it is. But I guess it is a tribute to a friendship, and progressive collaboration, so it hardly matters whose birthday.

A bird can't fly with just one wing. RIP dear friend.
  

CRANES 101: class credits

I had no idea there was so much to this, the business of folding 1,000 cranes.

1 - If I stop before I respond to that message or make that phone call, and fold a crane, I will either skip it or be ten percent kinder. Things work out better. 

2 - If I'm are busy thinking about what I've  learned, what to say next, what to do next, what I SHOULD be doing ... I WILL make a mistake. There are do-overs, you can fix it. #98 was almost folded inside out, first time I've done THAT mistake. Banish the "should be" messages in my head. It is just a paper crane. 

3 - Cranes offer a moment to honor someone's birthday, memory, a kindness ... yes, I could cheat and assign them one I folded earlier, but it really isn't the same. And if I make a mistake while remembering something, as I said, do-overs. still count. 

4 - The post office does not like the idea of mailing cranes first class in envelopes (even folded flat) because "they will be too thick for the machines and the envelope will tear." I've been short with the clerk over the request to add postage, and yes, I mailed one to myself through the outside box in order to prove it works fine within a card or folded piece of paper. But I feel like a heel for being short with someone doing their job. From now on I will cyber send them or try to add extra postage. I suppose I could figure it out ahead of time and have it on hand. I can't guarantee that I won't cheat in a pinch. 

5 - I'm at 101, literally. It will take a very long time to get to 1,000. That's okay, it is more worthwhile than I used to imagine. 

Number 101 is for a friend who died night before last. I will think a while before I post it here, in his memory. And I will give it away. 

6 - I'm not going to follow the traditional practice of tying them all together, In the interest of downsizing I won't hoard them. I left one with the tip for a chambermaid at a hotel last week. She or he probably threw it away, but maybe they took it home to their kid for a few minutes of play.

7. Like anything else, cranes can be a way to procrastinate and avoid the real world. When you are making a crane you aren't necessarily making a difference, finishing drudgery work, excercising,
paying attention to friends and family. Sometimes that's okay too.

6.5 - f you want cranes, in any quantity, I'll give them to you. 

41 Cranes: Humility, Focus and Self Discipline

Can you see the difference between the birds on the left and the cranes on the right?
Those on the left have thick necks and tails because the maker left out a step. She hurried, assumed she didn't need the directions and allowed herself to indulge in emotional distractions. Those distractions made birds, made her late to meet friends for dinner, and lack of self discipline also got her wet because she skipped bringing along the umbrella as she planned.

No longer feeling self-congratulatory over mindfulness, she started to undo each bird and refold the neck and tail. That's why the elegant cranes on the right look a bit shop worn. The hurry was to have them ready for giving away today (or maybe next Wednesday, she needs to check with Mike). This is a new beginning for Lions Club, the swearing in of officers and the end of  Jitsuhiro Yamada's International Presidency.  His theme was this origami crane and the intentions of Dignity.Harmony.Humanity.

First things first, no re-folding all the cranes until the windows are washed. The other Julie arrives in a few minutes and I will get the supplies ready. Maybe some of the cranes will be gifted as birds today, unless I get a week's reprieve.

Crane Number 27 and Mindfulness

 I'm at 27, some days that is 5 and other days that is one, or none. Folding a thousand paper cranes always seemed like a hobby for aesthetics or monks, something nice but not very productive. And here I am, wading in. Hopeful. Surprised. There is more to it than I thought.

At first I was just following the directions, making the creases, turning the paper. When I tried without the diagrams I invariably took a wrong turn and backed up. By two dozen I had made almost every mistake possible and found myself knowing. But you still have to pay attention. The minute you let your mind wander to something that might be annoying you or something else you need to be doing, bang, you've a wing where a tail should be and you have to back up. Aha. Now I get the term "mindfulness." Multiply it by a thousand. A thousand pieces of Mindfulness.

Meet 23, 24, 25