Month: January 2022

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Finding rhythm under pressure

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Rhythm is essential to a healthy body and a healthy mind. Every person in the world can probably think of something rhythmic that makes them feel better: walking, swimming, music, dance, the sound of waves breaking on a beach…

Dr. Bruce D. Perry

We all likely have experienced times where stress and pressure threaten to overwhelm us. Feeling out of sync, becoming isolated from those we care about, or paralyzed by low level fear are emotions that many of us have become more familiar with during the pandemic.

And as life continues on, there are those moments of stress that somehow seem to find us at our most vulnerable. They threaten to knock our ability to self-regulate off kilter.

And if we remain in a constant state of vigilant alertness, it begins to take a toll on our health. And chronic stress sucks that sense of joy out right of us like a super sonic vacuum. So finding our own rhythms again is necessary to help us regulate and come back into balance.

Discovering go to activities can be a bit of a process of trial and error. When walking, my preferred way to bring balance back into my life seemed to lack that regulating oomph, I found myself floundering. I tried knitting, listening to music, but couldn’t locate that thread of rhythm that I was looking for.

However, I began to notice what was having the strongest impact were conversations with friends and family members.

And the flow of those conversations also had a rhythm.

Push against that impulse to isolate from others. Reaching out and accepting the calming support from those people in your life who care about you is healing and restorative.

We are surrounded by natural rhythms which are deeply embedded in our biology. Taking the time to discover what may bring you back to balance is well worth the struggle to regain our footing when life pushes us off the path.

Stay healthy and safe!

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Write vs. Edit

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Writing is 10 percent about writing first drafts and 90 about editing. If you feel like inspiration is hard to come by, that means you get to focus on the things you already have.

Danez Smith

When you are stuck, it can be a relief to realize that you have lots of other writing work that you can tackle. For many of us, editing can be just as difficult to begin but if you develop a routine for this part of the work, it helps you with the toughest part of the job – finishing a piece of writing.

Creating a new piece of work is exciting, words that come rushing out in a torrent following those initial moments of inspiration are often exhilarating. But writing anything in a rapid manner will mean that time must be spent in careful editing mode at a later date. And often we need to let those initial ideas we have ferment like kimchi or sauerkraut.

If we develop a practice that includes times for generative writing, times for reflection and reading, and times for editing, we can move forward at the right pace for our creative energy levels. But that means developing an understanding of how the flow of your practice works for you at different times in your life.

Sometimes it is easier to put a piece of creative work aside and return to it when you have both the time and the inclination. But what happens if these inspiring moments are left to languish in a notebook or maybe in many notebooks. At times, we are easily able to return to words previously written and flesh them out into full fledged pieces of work.

If we don’t, all is not lost. Those words can be a bonanza at those times when you think you can’t possibly write about anything at all. Return to them, play with them, move them around this way and that. See if those words that once energized you, that were shaping up to tell a new story but stalled either through the business of daily life or simply inertia and then left to linger untouched, can become new again.

Dividends may pay off at those frustrating times when you can’t think of anything to write about. See if those older words can come alive again in new forms or repurposed to tell new stories. Writing isn’t always about that flash of creative spark but also about nurturing times to edit or to recreate those words you laid down before.

It can be amazing to discover that there are many pathways to getting writing on the page.

Happy writing!

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Take your creativity for a walk

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Walking opens up the free flow of ideas, and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.

Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz (2014)

Stumped by a much needed revision of a piece of flash fiction I had written sometime ago inadvertently led me down the “rabbit hole” commonly known as the internet. And I happened upon a fascinating study about walking and creativity titled “Give your ideas some legs: the positive effect of walking on creative thinking” by Oppezzo & Schwartz (2014). Further descent down the internet rabbit hole, revealed a wonderful Ted talk by the lead author which was inspiring and provided food for thought.

Using an experimental design study, these psychologists were able to quantify what many writers and other artists already know. That walking stimulates the creative process and often may be the best mechanism to become unstuck when you hit a roadblock in your work. Studying how the activity of movement can stimulate a brainstorming approach to creativity that is intentional can form a valued part of your artistic practice.

These results differ from what is known as the “shower effect” where an idea just comes to you from out of nowhere. What the researchers were focusing on was the relationship between movement and creativity and how this may contribute to better brainstorming approaches.

There are some steps that they suggest one consider to achieve the most optimal impact:

  1. Setting an Intention – choosing a problem you are facing and would like to solve will prime your brain to consider various solutions (brainstorming)
  2. Walk at a comfortable pace – or choosing any physical activity that doesn’t require a lot of mental focus
  3. Generate as many ideas as you can to solve your problem while you are walking
  4. Recording (using your phone) the one or two ideas that you believe would fit best and that you intend to pursue when you complete your walk or other activity, and
  5. If nothing comes out of your internal brainstorming process, leave it and come back to it at another time.

What I found most interesting in the study results, (given that I live in a cold winter climate for many months of the year), is that even walking on a treadmill while looking at a blank wall had an impact. Although being outside sitting and simply enjoying nature has cognitive benefits, this research demonstrates that the act of walking or slow movement itself may promote a creative mindset for problem solving.

Which was great news because when wicked winter weather strikes in the Canadian prairies, walking on the treadmill is usually how I get my exercise. So when I am home bound due to winter windchill temperatures in the -40’s and -50’s, it is heartwarming to know it is still possible to open up the flow of those creative ideas on the treadmill!

And once I finished learning more about how the relationship between movement and creativity works, I promptly went out for a walk to try it out. And I did manage to make some progress in my revision work as a result. Further self exploration with this over time will tell if this is something to intentionally build into my writing practice. Who knows, maybe there are some benefits to procrastination!

Stay healthy and safe!

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Embracing intentions

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And now let us welcome the new year – full of things that have never been

Rainer Maria Rilke

Given the current chaos in our lives with the recent uptick in Omicron, it seems less than inspiring to even contemplate making some sort of resolution for this new year. And truth be told, resolutions never seem to have the right fit in my life anyways. Making a resolution usually makes me feel obligated to do something arbitrary that I have chosen for the wrong reasons. So it seems to only set the stage for failure when I try to push myself to adopt a frame of mind where I think I must accomplish some random task.

And even pushing myself towards that goal doesn’t help as it often fizzles and fades away in a few weeks or months.

Since I am spending more time in quiet solitude these days, I have been thinking about the spirit of setting intentions versus resolutions.

By definition an intention relates to having some purpose. And purpose in our lives often has a deeper seated meaning and value than a haphazard goal.

As I embark on this path forward to being a writer, part of my transition comes with the realization that what I am passionate about requires me to move into the role of student. A beginning learner if you will. Learning more about the craft, about myself and what expectations I bring to the process of writing. As my words populate a page, it is humbling to be aware that there is much about being a writer that I have yet to learn. Maybe I never will.

So I am seeking out teachers, mentors and classes that resonate with what I need to learn now. I am fortunate in that I have time to devote to this…and perhaps feeling safer at home rather than out and about has prompted me to be realistic about what I can do these days. So my intentions this year are to learn more about the craft of writing. To be okay with and embrace the beginner mindset and to absorb as much as I can.

And to reframe the way 2022 has started and to be grateful that the external circumstances around me are assisting with this motivation to learn, grow, and to write.

Stay healthy and safe – Happy New year!!