A penny for your thoughts
The Comox Valley Collective starts a new theme cycle with every winter issue, and for this year, each issue will have a different idiom (a saying like an arm and a leg, a piece of cake, and under the weather) for its theme.
We’re opening with A penny for your thoughts. This is an invitation for someone who looks pensive to share what’s on their mind, on the assumption that it’s something important, or at least interesting. The asker’s intention is to open a conversation with the askee and in so doing, create a connection with them.
Of course, at any given moment, we all have a thousand different things on our minds. So each time someone says to you, “A penny for your thoughts” (or a more modern equivalent like “What’s on your mind?”), you can respond in a thousand different ways.
10 Years of Asking: ‘a penny for your thoughts’
For ten years, the CV Collective has been saying A penny for your thoughts to our contributors, and what we mean is: Who are you? What do you dream of? What have you learned? What’s happened to you? What are you creating?
Every story we publish is one reply—one way to reply—out of thousand possibilities. I like to think that with every issue, we create more connections among the people who live in this valley.
Who-What-Where section returns
This one, as always, is jam-packed with thoughts. After a hiatus of several years, we’re bringing back our Who-What-Where section. We’re introducing a new short fiction section where authors tell a story from an animal’s point of view. We’re also starting a four-issue cycle where we focus on different parts of the body, beginning with the brain (you know, the part where all those thoughts start!). We look at the creative processes of young artists, and the achievements of older activists. We travel around the world with one family, travel back into the history of Comox and Cumberland, and, as always, travel into various aspects of nature.
We’re thankful to everyone who helped us tell the real stories in this issue. Maybe you shared your experiences in your own words. Maybe you allowed someone else to interview you and convey their own impressions. Maybe you took photos, drew illustrations, or sourced and scanned images. Maybe you’re one of the advertisers who helps keep this whole communal project going. We are all connected by invisible strings, whether we know it or not.
Hishuk ish Tsawalk: everything is connected
I’m increasingly aware of the truth of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth saying Hishuk ish tsawalk, which means everything is connected; everything is one. Keeping that thought in my mind helps me to approach the world with respect and kindness.
I plan to spend more time in the new year not just rushing around in a daze on autopilot, but being aware of my thoughts—and questioning them when necessary. I’m also going to share them more honestly when people ask. What a great way to get pulled into the present moment, which is all we really have.
*Although we should probably increase the rate to a loonie or a toonie. I mean, nobody even uses pennies anymore; the last ones were made in 2012.