Patience, Persistence, Poetry in 2015

December 28, 2014 — archetypes, books, poet, poetry

April is Poetry month, with many activities and projects running around the country.  I have taken the challenge to write a poem every day in April for the last two years.  I push my way through the writing, with a fully punched card in participation, but have not really put my full attention into the whole process.  We are lucky in Tucson to have a world-famous Poetry Center at the U of A, open to the public.  Each time I visit the place I tell myself I will make a regular habit of spending time there.  It is an inspiring place to read, write, meditate, or take part in one of the workshops or readings.  The only resolution I need to make for 2015 is to honor the poet within me all year.  There is a haunting feeling in my memory and in my dreams of a productive and expressive poet I believe is within my spirit.  This artist/alchemist/poet has not been nurtured as well as it needs to be.  I work with words daily but am not arching to new heights or even developing a larger vocabulary.  When I do push myself to write poetry daily I can feel a response in my dream world toward more color and rich dramatic story lines.  It is as if there are stories, poems, maybe even novels, deeply stored in my writing practice, but I do very little to develop my ability in these realms. The poetry is essentially trapped within my lazy writing practice. I plan to liberate this struggling poetic artist next year and allow her to explore and create in new ways.

As 2015 approaches I contemplate the 3 words I will use to ground my meditation, my health, and my creativity next year. This is a practice started and promoted by Chris Brogan.  I have done it before and always find the quest for the right words to be very helpful.  This year I want to make some kind of significant progress as a poet and creative writer.  By using these key words all year I believe I can be a better poet in April and beyond.  Moreover, I think these words fit perfectly with my goals to clear out excess clutter in my home and my life.  I am working on this now, cleaning out my closet before the end of the year.  I can honestly say that the results I see and feel  in my closet after patiently and persistently ridding myself of extraneous clothing and accessories are nothing short of poetic.  Poetry has more to do with what is edited than with what remains.  The fewer words used to convey an idea, the more powerful each word becomes.  Now my closet is more like a haiku than an epic drama.  I am feeling much better when I walk into it now.

These words fit perfectly with my health and fitness goals.  Movement and variety of enjoyable physical activities create strong healthy bodies.  It does not matter if time is spent playing an active sport, hiking, swimming, or yoga, the key to success is always persistence.  I like to cross train, in other words, do different physical activities, to keep things interesting.  This is good for the body as well as the mind. I like doing some activities outdoors, but the gym makes me very happy too.  In 2015 I plan to create a fitness regime that offers me a chance to improve my levels of grace, balance, and coordination.  I plan to end 2015 as poetry in motion, retaining all my flexibility and enthusiasm for fitness and health.  Too much of any one thing can cause burn out or injury, so there is no need to fixate on any one aspect of health or fitness.  Balance is an important element of health.

My words have meaning for me in many aspects of living. They are good universal guiding principals that are easy to remember:

• Patience- my health and my creative talent require my attention and acceptance that nothing happens without practice on a consistent basis.  There is no such thing as instant poetic mastery or physical skill
• Persistence- the same level of commitment to change in habits must be used for both health and creative goals. To write one or two poems or spend a few very active weeks learning a new sport will not yield results. These achievements will not be attained without full attention over a long time.
• Poetry- this word is the most powerful one in my arsenal for next year.  If one is to think like a poet, the world must be viewed from new positions, in new light.  My body wants to move like a poem, flowing freely in graceful movement.  The dance of 2015 is a rhythm, a belief, and a leap into a new realm of expression.  With daily patience and persistence I think this is possible.

Do you do the 3 word challenge, Gentle Reader?  Have you found it to be helpful?