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Yarn a Tale to Grow Flow

Have a Ball with Yarn as Prompt

Yarn is a good prompt for writing.
Squeeze a ball of yarn. It’s soft and fluffy to the touch. What metaphors or images arise from the sight or touch of the yarn?

Have yarn, will create! Using this spun thread to create connections is nothing new. The word itself has a secondary meaning, which is to spin a tall-tale, fable, or myth. There are some good reasons for this connection. First, yarns squeeze metaphors to create literary impact. Second, creatives can literally juggle  balls of yarn to consider how a plot can be twisted and turned to add drama. Finally, finger-crocheting can help knit together a dialogue or setting. Let’s look at yarn’s versatility as a writer’s tool below.

Squeeze Out Metaphor

Rubber stress balls work to help anxiety-filled writers and artists, but those made from yarn are better. Soft, fluffy, and light, they help us to squeeze metaphors while literally clamping down on them. Think about it. Maybe the logger who created the Paul Bunyan folklore had access to yarn balls while spinning tales of Paul and his blue ox named, Babe? Not familiar with the American tale? The city of Bemoiji, Minnesota’s website has detailed storylines for Paul and Babe’s travels. See more here: https://wewriteitright.com/sow-flow-visit-antique-shop/

Juggle ideas around while rotating these light-as-air balls to loosen up a plot.

Juggle Ideas Around with Yarn Balls

Perhaps juggling can loosen up a stuck plot. Without too much scientific thinking here, simply juggle three balls of yarn. Stand or sit. It doesn’t make a difference. Focus on the act of juggling the balls for five to 10 minutes, then write a journal entry about the current piece. See what types of connections altered or sprung up from the simple act of juggling. Need a refresher on how to juggle? Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNigMfLNhpg

Finger Crochet to Knit a Tale

Want to bring a scene or a dialogue alive? Try finger crocheting some yarn at the desk. This works better seated than standing. Again, do not think too much about the creative piece. Think summer camp or study hall in middle school. Simply focus energy on doing the loops in finger crocheting for about 10 minutes. The process is what matters here, so don’t sweat the way the long link looks. Then, again, write a journal entry to note any new sensory images to add to a scene or dialogue.

Finger crochet for dialogue or scene development.

Your Turn

Creating space to allow images to pop up is important for writers and artists to yarn their tales. Frist, try to squeeze metaphors to enhance the story. Next, mix things up in a plot after juggling. Finally, use finger crocheting to knit together a scene or a dialogue. Choose any of these or all three to keep your story skills fluid.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Day After Twelfth Night Stirs Flow

Flow Arrives the Morning After Twelfth Night

Red wreath brings glee.
A red berry wreath remind bears glad tidings beyond Twelfth Night.

Entering into life beyond The Twelfth Day of Christmas challenges even the most cheerful among us.  People don’t get too excited about the thirteenth day of Christmas now, do they? Yet flow arrives on the heels of such a day. Honestly, it is important to know where to look. My family packed up Christmas after attending an Epiphany service. And, I’m not going to lie, it felt a little sad. Then, I realized what was needed to keep the spirit of the holidays going into at least next month. What was it? A simple red berry wreath.

Flow Found in Red Berry

A wreath is a traditional sign to welcome those entering a home. This red berry wreath is hung on a pantry door in my kitchen for a few reasons. First, it recalls winter’s joyful landscapes. Where I live it is in the 70s during the day and down in the 40s at night.  So, the symbolism of a white door behind the red berries reminds me of the Snow Belt where I grew up. Next, it winds around on itself as a sign of infinity. Glad tidings, I am reminded, are reason for an additional smile. And, another. Finally, stir those images around to find a satisfying sense of flow to extend the joy of Twelfth Night into today –  and beyond.

Other Places to Find Flow Beyond Twelfth Night

Easily find flow and where it grows through the five senses. First, get out a journal. Next, walk around the office or house and jot down anything that smells, sounds, tastes, feels, or looks like an extension of the holiday. For example, note that the red earthen wear bowl can hold fruit such as apples on the counter. Perhaps a dash a cinnamon in coffee or on cocoa brings a jolt of joy. Finally, take this listing of sense-related phrases and quickly write a reflection on Christmas joys. No need to share it – unless that, too, brings joy.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Conferences Sharpen Literary and Social Skills, Part II

Conferences Create Confidence: From the Cubicle to Stage

Writing and performance critique groups can help hone skills.
Writing and performance critique groups can help hone skills.

It’s a fact: Conferences create confidence through immersion in an accepting environment. Being present and aware of the limitless opportunities a writing conference can bring is the key to success. And that key can open many, many doors.

So, once you’ve arrived at the conference and begin to attend workshops, classes, or panels, engage in the environment by being willing to share your writing. Consider the places where to share work: in a class, a group critique,  or an open mic/open reading session.

In class and critique groups, set parameters to the amount of feedback desired from the audience. “I’d like to know what you think of the poem’s flow,” is a good neutral way to break into such a group. If you desire more, suggest, “I’d like to know which portions resonate with you and those you find extraneous – and why.”

Open mic and staged script readings provide feedback with applause and afterwards while socializing. And most everyone gets cheered if they are brave enough to get up and do a short, timed set.

Need a confidence boost? Try a conference for experimenting with workshops, group critiques, open mics, or script readings. You never know what door may open until you’ve sampled a few ways to improve your work.

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Affirmations Flip Negativity to Positivity for Success

In a Rut? Reframe Issues with Gratitude

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Nobody likes the mental portraits that negativity paints – especially when fear, guilt and shame color the pictures in vivid shades of morose. Everyone gets in a rut every now and then. But instead of letting the groove get deeper, how do you release negativity to gain a positive mindset that encourages success?

Reframing professional problems or personal dilemmas in an intentional image of gratitude can work wonders in moving ahead. Even Buddha has deep reflections on the attributes of a grateful heart when he noted that “Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.”

Challenging issues seem to often unfold new and wonderful opportunities for growth when viewed through a framework of gratitude. Take a mid-career man I know who was laid off from his job. Luckily, he was given an excellent opportunity to attend vocational training that lead to an entirely new career as a welder. He had been alert to the benefits of a training center in his town and took immediate action to move in a new and exciting direction. Whether realizing it or not, he was practicing gratitude by using his outreach to an established technical school as a resource to remedy his problem.

Affirmation work is one method of finding the silver lining within situations that are perceived as bad. Some, like hidden disabilities, affect both professional and personal life in harsh ways. I speak from experience: I have dealt with nerve degeneration that creates low-toned hearing loss since I was a young teen. The reactions that I get from some strangers, acquaintances, friends, and even family members, are cringe worthy. They may yell every syllable or over-enunciate something like a greeting with “HOW IS BUSINESS?” while nodding with each syllable – as if overdoing it will indeed help. Others do the opposite and speak continuously and block any attempt of a response to control the situation. And still others overtly avoid me. They refuse to make an effort to view my disability as a learning moment. Instead, they create drama and make it  a chore they to deal with. These hearing challenges are compounded by the fact that I have an atypical reversed slope, low-toned hearing loss that has yet to be successfully fit with hearing aids after years of trials.

So I reframe the situation. Using affirmations such as “I hear with love” and “My hearing still works for me” helps me to deal with challenging people and situations daily. Furthermore, I adapt to a given situation by standing off to the side of a crowd, by lipreading, by carrying paper and a pad, or by texting and messaging in loud crowds.

And, several times a day, I ask myself, “What is the gift in this hearing challenge (rather than hearing “loss”)? At first, I had no answers, especially when people said, “Oh it really wasn’t that funny,” and refused to repeat a joke. Or  curtly told me, “Never mind” and walked away.

After reading a pivotal work, “The Four Agreements,” by Don Miguel Ruiz, I have made, “I release the need to take other people’s actions personally,” a mantra. When I am upfront with my disability and treated poorly by others, I have learned that it is a sign of their own unease of adapting to differences in people, not my lack of flexibility. I, too, have learned that my hearing challenges assist me in weeding out those who do not want to even attempt the courtesy of inclusion. I take a page from the CEO Playbook, which says, “I am the CEO of my life and I can hire, promote, demote or fire anyone I want.” Rude people may think they have the upper hand, but I now chalk up their behavior to poor socialization skills. After all it is 2016. Inclusion? It’s trending! Moreover, there is a gift in educating others on how to communicate more effectively, which most people are earnestly willing to do. It is the emphasis of those individuals, whom I “hire and promote” from acquaintances to friends, that really make reframing a disability very worthwhile.

What issue will you reframe today?

 

 

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Forgiveness: When Editing Gets Personal

Editing Out Negativity Creates New Perspective

Self-forgiveness is an inside editing game to get you off the bench and back into the game.
Self-forgiveness is an inside editing game to get you off the bench and back into the game of life.

Forgiveness is an inside job. You have to be willing to look inside yourself and figure out what loaded words need editing. Once they are out of your life, then you can go on to be a happy and productive person. If you do not take time for reflection, then you get stuck in a trap of fear, resentment and self-ridicule. And really, life is too short to waste it on that kind of negativity.

Be honest. Raise your hand if a derogatory term has ever slipped through your lips – about yourself? Like Scotty Smalls in the 1993 summer-time classic, “The Sandlot,” I’ve caught myself saying the equivalent of “Don’t be a Goofus! Don’t be a Goofus!” This especially happens before walking into a meeting or a business event where I do not know a single soul.

Benching yourself due to fear of failure – or worse yet, the fear of success – can be avoided through the act of rethinking actions. Consciously replacing negative thoughts – stoked with fear and tinged with shame – with thoughts of success that feed feelings of confidence. Sometimes life’s memories need to be edited to allow us to get back into the game.

There are many ways that writing can be used to give the calm of new perspective to end negative thought patterns.  In doing so, you can find ways to release errors and forgive yourself. These methods  include the following:

  • A Personal Letter or Note. Written with the help of someone, if needed. Then, self-address it, drop it in a mailbox or at a Post Office, and forget about it for a few days. When it arrives, set aside some time to slowly read the note or letter, which will request forgiveness. Read it either aloud or to yourself. Then, say to yourself, “I forgive you!” This is a very powerful tool to dismantle negativity.
  • Recite custom affirmations to yourself to let go of the patterns of fear, resentment and shame from your own self-talk.
  • Jot a two-column list. In the left column, place the errors made in the past. In the right column, place the corrections to the errors. Refer back to the list until the new positive patterns become incorporated into your everyday life.

Edit out that negative self-chatter. That is something only a Goofus would do anyway!