Unlock that untold story
residing in you,
for once you
break the chains of yesterday,
you will find the way to your most
creative self.
Maja S. Todorovic
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This is a guest post, a courtesy of a fellow poet and writer Dalia Jayes where she shares her personal experience on writing poetry:
I love creating things and I use lots of different ways apart from poetry to accomplish this. There is an incredible feeling to taking threads of ideas and putting them together to form something new. For me the writing of poetry is minimalistic. By the right choice of words I can create a story in multiple layers. The added almost musical rhythm of the lines adds to the expression of the tale. I find writing poetry therapeutic. I work through things I experience, hear and see. I like that the writing is relatively fast and I relate to it as a quick fix. The poem is finished and I can move on.
My earliest memory of a well-known poem was the Pied Piper. It really captured my imagination. My favourite poets are Emily Dickinson and Dr. Seuss.
Some of my favourite poems:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The Healing Tree by Dalia Sophia Jayes
The many roots of this tree,
Twisted, exposed for all to see.
Its trunk thick and old, was,
Magnificent, perhaps because,
It held secrets, mystery, more,
This was but the central core,
For magic worlds hidden between,
The leaves, which could be seen,
And memories near and long ago,
Perched like blossom high and low,
But where was this tree firmly stood,
Not in a forest, or an enchanted wood,
It was there for the sick and the aged,
A remedy for feeling and being caged,
To where they could run and disappear,
Far, far away, but still quite near,
Escaping from the reality of the now,
Into golden moments beyond each bough.
Looking For The Sun by Dalia Sophia Jayes
The sun shone, beating down hot,
Sea, ice cream, summer whatnot,
Iced coffees, suntan cream smell,
Chat, quiet and laughter as well,
Jump into the bubble, feel real good,
Closed eyes, rose glasses understood,
Outside bubble sun is blotted black,
Cycle of murdering innocents back,
New orphans, transformed in a blink,
Witnesses of bloodshed, what to think,
Knives, stones, rocks and the gun,
Vengeance, martyrs, wars to be won,
Blood staining earth, spitting at peace,
Spurred on, encouraged, lost is cease,
And the heat, boiling does not stop,
Too hot, bursting bubble with a pop,
Outside tears, screams, horror, abound,
Replacing summer’s smile and sound,
And the sun refuses to shine just now,
One hopes it hasn’t forgotten how.
Weddings by Dalia Sophia Jayes
She sat there, her mother, sister, grandmothers by her side,
A vision in white, glowing and smiling, she sat there the bride,
And above and around her was a cloud of emotion, charged,
As the family seemingly both contracted and enlarged,
Only women framed her, singing songs in girly tones,
Whilst others tapped to the music into their phones,
And we waited and waited barely able to breathe for,
The moment she would go through an invisible door,
When she would pass from her parents to,
A family that she was now forming, brand new,
The men were coming, I could hear their male voice,
Headed by the groom, her man, her choice,
The clothed wedding players were naked now,
Their feelings etched on their faces and how,
Her father overcome, a silent sob in his eyes,
His little girl grown up taking him by surprise,
Her husband to be had a look of love, so pure,
Proving to her unquestionably this would endure,
It was such a private moment when their eyes met,
It felt wrong to look, to be a voyeur of this, yet,
We all gazed, watching as she walked over to him,
Even as she still sat there, veiled, pretty and slim,
The moment had passed, the transition done, a leap,
Tears gone, replaced with smiles etched so very deep,
And mother, father took hold of her hands and led,
She, forever their daughter, to her groom to be wed.
Conscription by Dalia Sophia Jayes
Today came as we knew it would,
When there was no longer control over the words,
And the poem lost its rhyme,
And the vowel was marched away,
Leaving an unfamiliar empty sound.
Dalia Jayes grew up in London and after university went to Israel to study for a doctorate in medicinal chemistry. Many years later she is still in Israel with her husband and children. She lives in Modi’in, which although a relatively new city, is steeped in history, especially relating to Hanukah, which took place in this region. She consider herself lucky to be able to use writing in her profession, a patent attorney, although the language is limited. In spare time she writes poems as well as fiction. She has also written a fantasy book for teenagers, which is yet to be published. You can find her writings at https://whileiwalk.wordpress.com
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Most of the confidence we develop throughout the years stem from our past experiences – predominantly on how other people perceived us and our work. Not gaining enough recognition, pile of rejection letters and even just a random bad comment can blow away all our creative self-esteem – that many people stop creating all together. Paying too much attention on other people opinions can instill fear that paralyzes not only our creative outlets but practically our complete approach to life. That kind of attitude leads to isolation, avoidance of trying new things and not sharing our accomplishments with the world.
The good news is that we have control of our feelings towards what creatively we can offer to the world.
When you get to the root of this problem, it’s all about belief and what we chose to believe. You can chose to believe that:
The most important opinion is the one we hold for ourselves. From there you build and harness your confidence. Once you are aligned with who you are, and you truly believe you are creative person, no one can destabilize your confidence – on the contrary. Your positive creative offerings and your abilities to create expand, grow and gain more interaction with the world. That’s what creating really means.
By now you are already guessing that we can use poetry as an effective tool to create more beneficial beliefs for us.
In this case, poetry can help us implement presuppositions to improve our confidence and strengthen positive attitudes towards creativity. This technique is often used in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
A presupposition is simply a statement or belief that is assumed to be valid.
It can be something like this:
Now think of any situation in your creative pursuits where you would like to gain more confidence. Close your eyes and imagine vividly you are doing that activity right now. Imagine each detail, smell, touch, as you observe yourself, notice your feelings, how your senses react.
For example you don’t feel comfortable submitting your written work to journals, you fear rejection and that prevents you from sharing your work:
It might feel like this:
“My heart is pounding, and I mean really hard pounding! What’s wrong with me? It’s just a poem anyway. They might not like it, it’s not such a big deal! But look my hands are trembling and suddenly I feel so cold! I can’t believe I already forgot to spell, I’ll never finish this application letter. Look at other writers here, they all have already published their work! Who am I? My writing is not good enough, the criteria is too high, I can’t compete with that!”
In the next step pick one of the statements (or write your own). For example:
and apply it to your situation and imagine what would it look like where you totally believe this to be true. How would your writing life be different? Close your eyes and notice how you now perceive the situation whilst holding this new truth for you. Notice what you see, hear, feel and write a poem about it.
I chose you, to be fertile soil for my words. As you have been for so many poets before me, who inspired me, taught me and gave me the strength to write even more. Reading your pages gives me warmth and sense of belonging. It’s peaceful anticipation and only words are important. If I can’t nest my words in your lap, well they can’t fail. They have strong wings to fly farther and farther…until they find new home in someone else’s heart, cradle on the pages that will spread my joy of writing. If you don’t chose my words as I have chosen you, you are not destiny carved in a stone.
This is just one stop in my creative journey. You can’t stop the words. You can’t erase the words. In their eternity we arrange them one moment in time. This moment might not be mine, but the next, and the next and the next is.
After you finish exercise, think how this new belief may altered your perception: do you feel any different about the initial situation? Are there any actions you are going to take and when?
In our example it might be something like:
“Yes, I like this literary journal and I can submit my work there. If they reject it, I can apply elsewhere. It doesn’t mean I am a bad writer. They just might not like my style, but certainly there is right journal for my poems to be published.”
You can play around with different statements and situations and with time you will notice how your confidence increases. You pay more attention on what you can learn and improve than on the (false) judgments other people might hold against you.
I like this poetic approach as it feels more empowering and positive to me, instead of ‘dry’ writing. Poetry allows us to taste and experience situations differently: it’s magical what it can do for us and our confidence -practically in any area of our lives. It shifts your mood and the rhythm and melody you put into your thinking gives it another vibe, that positive feeling gets easier ’embedded’ into your subconsciousness.
And remember: confidence is a state of mind – you can get there with little persistence and practice.
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Is like having the sweetest piece of cake:
once you taste, you simply can’t stop –
until it satiates your soul.
Maja S. Todorovic
In our already very busy lives, the pressure to do more and perform better seems to grow, even though we stay with the same amount of hours in a day. The to-do lists are getting on popularity with all accompanying tools like apps, digital notebooks and ext. just for you to become more productive. Still, there is an underlying question: we might be able to do more, but with what quality? I am always for quality over quantity, since it is less stressful and you will be more satisfied with the work you’ve done.
So how you can organize your day, in order to meet all your desired creative goals?
So the first step in this process I would recommend for you to clearly and realistically go through your daily tasks/goals, make priorities and choose only those that are really important.
In order to retain that initial drive for accomplishing our goals, it is crucial to focus ourselves on the tasks that serve our purpose, that will benefit us in the long run. Only when you divert your thinking to work on what really matters, you begin to more appreciate your time and what you do with it.
As everything around us has its cyclic rhythm so do we. Life is made of cycles and seasons so we need to observe ourselves in what part of the day we are most productive. That’s the power we should harness as much as we can. Follow the flow of your own rhythms instead of pedaling against the stream. I’m for example a morning person and I build my daily routine around those pick energy levels to take the maximum advantage of it.
Multitasking is a myth busted long time ago. It’s a deceiving feeling you are getting more things done, while what it does it’s quite the opposite. You might initially do more, but the tiredness and stress that accumulates simply adds up to long-term exhaustion. For many years, I personally was very proud of my multitasking skills. Yes, I managed to do more things, but at the end of the day I was always left with some ’empty’ feeling, like something was missing. And that was strange, because the purpose of the multitasking is to do more things and get that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, right? Until several years ago I realized that key source of my stress was that endless try to get everything done, fast and in short period of time. Than I began to declutter my schedule and get more focus on what’s really important. The biggest lesson I learnt is when you approach your obligations, strategically, with end result in mind, your focus will sharpen and your energy won’t get dissipated on meaningless activities. While remaining on doing one thing at the time, completely present in the moment, actually our effectiveness with time can grow, since it allows you to enjoy your work, simply to be immersed in your creativity. In Buddhist traditions, the philosophy is to do everything slowly and deliberately, with complete concentration. Put your mind completely on the task and try to avoid distractions.
If you have big projects, then break them into small pieces and do segment by segment, one step at a time.
How do you spare time for your creativity? Please, share in the comments below.
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Apparently we have reached our first official anniversary. This week marks a year since Business in Rhyme has been launched and it has been a great experience.
With over 500 posts published, research, interesting articles, new friends…and poetry, it has become a real and inseparable part of my life. I know I haven’t been very active on the blog lately, but there is a lot of work behind the scenes I’m doing. I’m thinking of getting blog more focused, mostly on creativity and writing oriented (which is where my inspiration is driving me) with more practical, action based advice. It’s also a great opportunity for me to learn, try new things and explore. Nevertheless, there is great content coming your way, I hope you’ll find enjoyable and useful.
As a reminder, here’s how it looked in the beginning:
How poetry can stimulate creativity?
Organize your own creativity workshop
3 lessons that writing haiku taught me about business
Aaaaand (do you hear drums too? :)) as a part of this celebration we’ll be having a small giveaway:
This book:
Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content by Mark Levy, contains great tips on how to jump-start your writing and creativity. Full of practical prompts, entwined through personal experience of writer and his challenge to come up with new ideas can be yours: all you have to do is to fill in the form bellow (please give your full name and email address so we can contact you) and state in one sentence how this book can benefit you. One that I find most inspirational will be the lucky, new owner of this book, a ‘must have’ tool for any writer or creative. By signing up, you are automatically subscribed to our mailing list (you can opt any time) and in the August issue of the newsletter we will announce the winner (and if you are already subscribed to newsletter – don’t worry, you won’t be ‘double’ signed up 🙂 )
Thank you in advance for participating, for being part of this community, for reading my scribbles and giving me the opportunity to enjoy your work as well. It’s really precious and unforgettable.
Maja
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I have often written here about the unpredictability of creative outlets, the inspiration that comes in the most strangest time and situations, but can we really do something about it and take just a little bit control over it?
What I observed in my years of research and work is that we as humans tend to be reactively creative. It means that we search for creative solutions and answers mostly when we are challenged to do so.
For example:
When these 3 things happen, then we are prompted to react to a problem and get creative.
What if we take a stand to be proactive about our creativity? Actually, can we practice creativity regularly? Some experts claim you need to be proactive about your creativity to discover and manifest your true potential as a person.
We are creatures of habits and conformity. Most of us are dreaded by the thought of any change in our lives. But if we do make a little challenges for us every day, we are actually practicing our creativity, being proactive about it.
As Brian Eno puts it in this interview:
The point about working is not to produce great stuff all the time, but to remain ready for when you can.There’s no point in saying, ‘I don’t have an idea today, so I’ll just smoke some drugs.’ You should stay alert for the moment when a number of things are just ready to collide with one another… The reason to keep working is almost to build a certain mental tone, like people talk about body tone.
So what can you do to practice proactive creativity? For example: take participation in the activities in your community, take an art class, invent new recipes – learn to cook new dishes, travel and learn new language, try new sports or dance, eat with chopsticks instead of using fork all the time, change your usual route to work/school.
Try and experience something different form your current skill sets – you may be pleasantly surprised by the fresh creativity that will start to pour in. It’s a kind of preparation phase as B. Eno says, when unpredictable good ideas appear – you are ready to make the most of them.
We can design our lives in such way we invite creativity every day- it’s up to us.
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Business in Rhyme 