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TinMan’s Gratitude Grows Flow

Register Emotion with TinMan’s Flow

TinMan is literally rusted in place when we meet him along the Yellow Brick Road. He knows he needs help, but is literally and figuratively stuck in place until help arrives. And arrives it does in the form of two travelers going to Oz with problems of their own. Haven’t we all had a sense of grinding writer’s block that seems to freeze us in anger, fear, or resentment?

Want to grow your flow? Take a cue from the TinMan, who used appreciation to lead to flow.

Grab the Oil Can of Helpers

Just like us, Dorothy and Scarecrow are vulnerable. TinMan is no exception. They find  him rusted shut. Yet, TinMan is tenacious in his quest to speak and repeats, “Oil Can!”, in muffled speech until the Scarecrow recognizes the TimMan’s need for oiled joints. Upon application of the oil, TinMan is grateful to be moving again. He may be creaky, but his radiant smile shows his gratitude to his peers as he links arms with Dorothy and Scarecrow and dances down the road. In a sense, we all have had experiences like TinMan. We stay stuck until we find a critique group or writing mentor or online workshops to help move us forward on our creative trail. It all begins with the willingness to ask for assistance along the path. One great resource is found in the International Women’s Writing Guild’s Digital Village. Learn more about the Digital Village here: https://www.iwwg.org/digital-village/

Risk Heartbreak for Experience

In the last scene shot in Oz, Dorothy, her friends, and Glinda are all on the platform where Professor Marvel’s balloon has just launched. Glinda lets Dorothy know Kansas is as close as a few clicks of her heels. She begins her tearful goodbyes. As she hugs TinMan, he exhibits a flow of painful emotion, which most of us would call grief. Now I know I have a heart, cause its breaking. Dorothy hands him back his oil can so he won’t rust up again. In doing so, we know he and his friends will go on with their duties in Oz. He has come a long way from his frozen state to one of deep flow. My how he’s grown for the better.

Your Turn

Who can you ask for help in a writing project – or in any life matter – to regain your forward momentum of flow? Take out your journal and list friends and family who would be willing to lend a hand. Then, risk the awkwardness to write on the subject of your choice once again. You need not share the early work with anyone. Simply write to get back into flow.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

 

 

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Scarecrow’s Wits Lead to Flow

Scarecrow Leads to Flow with Wits

Dorothy’s favorite travel companion, the Scarecrow, is a wonderful observation of how to find flow. From the moment Dorothy helps him down from the post, Scarecrow is using his noggin. He finds remedies and solutions galore. We, too, find answers for all sorts of sticky situations that figuratively keep us hanging when following the Scarecrow’s lead. Scarecrow moves with childlike faith, which is imbued with  his concern for Dorothy’s safety. He is made from straw, but his brainy wits help to get Dorothy to the Wizard. His stability is found in his can-do mindset. He looks for the silver lining in every situation. And he accomplishes this by minding his attitude.

Grwo flow by observing scarecrow's wits
The Scarecrow uses his wits to chaperone Dorothy through her adventures on her way through Oz.

Keeping His Wits About Him

We can get into flow so much faster if we simply take the Scarecrow’s unspoken mantra and make it our own: “Keep your wits about you!”  Yes, situations can get bad in a heartbeat. Yet, solutions are always present when we look around for clues for an answer. In perhaps one of the strongest scenes of depicting flow, the Scarecrow knows that he and his friends are cornered in the Witches castle by her Winkle foot soldiers. Quickly he engages the Tinman’s help by rushing his hatchet into a think rope that holds an enormous light fixture. It crashes down on the Witch and her guards so that the group can continue to escape.

Some of our own gestures may not seem so grand. Yet, they can go a long way to help us escape the negativity in our lives. We may cut ourselves loose from a routine that no longer serves us to work on a journal entry. To move in flow like The Scarecrow, we need to face our fears. We may not have wicked witches, flying monkeys, or a Winkle army chasing us down. But we can move into flow with the intention of helping ourselves first, which leads to helping others.

Your Turn

Take time to think of ways in which the balance of time can be restored in your life for creative work and play. Jot them down in your journal. Then, take the action needed to safeguard your creative self. Note how you feel. Protected? Secure? Relaxed? Make note of the feeling, too.

Here’s to growing YOUR flow,

Marisa

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Flow Grows in Technicolored Flowers

Grow Your Flow in Technicolor

Every writer wants watch as their work grows and flourishes. In watching the Wizard of Oz, one of the first things we notice when Dorothy opens the door from her sepia-colored home into the brightly colored Oz is color. Especially the flowers, thriving and vivacious and glowing in splendor. How can we get our writing to thrive in a vivacious and glowing way? The answer is easier than we might imagine it to be.

Does your writing bloom?

Details Create Flow

To get that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) gem of a look, create in flow inspired by technicolored flowers. MGM took advantage of the new heightened color in the 1939 cinema classic. This explains why everything seems so surprisingly – and thematically – surreal. The flowers are a hint of the dream-like quality of life in the Land of Oz. Notice the detail of the glistening petals, the bright blooms, the silky stalks. They are all lush and made so to hide the Munchkins, who peek behind the blooms at Dorothy and Toto.

Your Turn

Take a stroll around your neighborhood. Notice flowerboxes, landscaping, or flowers being sold on the street. Try to imagine seeing them for the very first time. Consider what it would be like to put on a special pair of glasses that make color “pop” and come to life. Then, take out a journal and write about the experience. Here are a dozen things to consider about the flowers or plants you saw:

  1. What colors were the blooms?
  2. Were they all the same color?
  3. Did they have complementary colors like blue and yellow?
  4. Were the wild or manicured?
  5. Where they in pots or boxes?
  6. Or, perhaps, did they grow long from a rooftop garden?
  7. Are they tall, small, dry, lush?
  8. Are the flowers marked by signs that tell their names?
  9. If you are strolling in a botanical garden, what other trees or bushes are there nearby?
  10. If you are in your backyard, do the flowerbeds take up more room then the grass or are they in even portions?
  11. If you only see trees, were they flowering?
  12. If you see no trees or flowers on your walk, what kind do you remember having in your childhood?

Here’s to growing YOUR flow,

Marisa

 

 

 

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Cruellers’ Ozian Twist Reflects Flow

Cruellers Give Example of Aunty Em’s Flow

Cruellers remind us of flow.
Cruellers, a Dutch name for donuts, are formed her from scratch. Their infinity shape reminds us that flow, too, in without end.

Cruellers are a Dutch version of a donut. When viewed through the lens of The Wizard of Oz, they take on a deeper meaning. These delectable treats are served fresh from the fryers and tossed with cinnamon sugar.  Aunty Em offers them from a plate to Dorothy and the farm hands at the beginning of the movie.

We are never in the kitchen with Em, but we can  imagine that she has her Fanny Farmer Cookbook opened to the yeast dough section. We can further imagine her sifting the flour, stirring in the water and yeast, punching down the dough as it rises.

In short, we see the flow of her work. Aunty Em enters flow to create the cruellers.

Art Imitates Life

Because the Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, we can assume that this tradition of handmade donuts was commonplace. Women – and men if they lived alone – cooked and baked and fried by scratch. In and of itself, cooking is a form of meditation. And a way to enter flow. The yeast, or the experience, of doing the mundane routine can be elevated by awareness. Our spirits literally rise to the occasion when we are in flow.

Sacred Shape Connects Cruellers to Flow

The twisted shape of  cruellers looks like a number 8 on its side. This symbol is he one for infinity. And if we dwell on this a moment, we can see that the image can covert to the timeless flow available to all to enter

Your Turn

Take time to observe the food you eat. If you prepare it, look and listen to the process for symbols of guidance. As they say, “Go with the flow!”

Here is to Growing YOUR Flow,

Marisa

 

 

 

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Seek Self-Approval to Find Flow

Self-Approval is the Fastest Route to Flow

What usually happens when there is a perceived catastrophic problem? Well, we go to the authority figure of the moment, don’t we? A local mayor, counselor, or CEO for answers. We may be asked to prove our self-worth. And in doing so, we may jump through a lot of hoops to receive help. In the framework of the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy emerges from her crashed pad, yearning to go home. She is told by the Munchin Mayor, as well as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, to seek the advice of the Wizard. But the Wizard is on the other side of the county, and Glinda notices that Dorothy is traveling without a broomstick, so she sets her on the path.

Self-Approval Helps to Meet Flow
When we see approval for anyone but ourselves, we tend to interfere with our own sense of flow.

Not Nobody, Not No How!

After Dorothy’s travels produce not one or two, but three other travel companions, the group finally reaches the doorway of the Emerald City. They try to use the bell, but it is out of order. Then, they knock and a guard opens the window and posts a sign that reads: Nobody Gets In To See The Wizard Not Nobody, Not No How.

Dorothy begins to sob. All she wants is to get home to Aunty Em, who may have a heart condition. Dorothy’s been through an awful lot by this point in the story and is worn out from the emotional toll of it all. The guard himself peeks out the door’s window and is so touched that he, too,  begins to sob. He learns that they have been sent by Glinda and invites them all in to go to see the Wizard.

So in they go.

Take the Long Way Home

Frank L. Baum decided to write all of the challenges into the  story that would leave a contestant on Survivor look like a lightweight next to Team Dorothy. They conquer challenge after challenge to finally produce the broomstick of the evaporated Witch of the West. Dorothy learns that the Wizard, is a man rather than a wizard. Now the story would be truncated a great deal if Dorothy knew to click her heels together and head home at the story’s start. Had she been present with herself, she may had been aware of her own power through flow to go home. What if the only lesson we take away is this: We all possess the power to enter flow. It is there for the taking. Life would be so much more simple, indeed.

Your Turn

Apply this wisdom of entering flow with what you know to any writing block. Take out a piece of paper. Write about the problem and ask for guidance. Fold up the paper and place it in your pocket for the day. At the end of the day, unfold the paper and write what solutions may have popped into your head during the day by trusting your instincts. Isn’t it worth a try? It’s better than trying to flee metaphorical flying monkeys now, isn’t it?

Here’s to Growing YOUR Flow,

Marisa