• Home
  • About
  • Business and Proposal Writing
  • Training
  • Webinars and Seminars
  • Contact
  • Grow Your Flow Blog

March 21, 2019 By Marisa Moks-Unger

TGIFF – Thank God It’s Friday Flow

Cliché Finds Flow on Friday

Grow flow on Friday with gratitude.

Congratulations, you’ve made it to Friday. And, at the workweek’s end, there is time to find flow. But, where do you go to find flow? First, realize that flow can happen anywhere at anytime. Need proof? Look at this past post on finding flow in a card and party goods store. Simply click right here: https://wewriteitright.com/visit-flow-in-a-party-goods-shop/

How Gratitude Leads the Way

Use grateful eyes to take in the world around you. Then, instead of planning to hit the bars and clubs when the clock strikes 5:00 PM, other options present themselves during these times of pandemic. Why not take a virtual tour a museum? Or, take a walk or bike ride through a park? Or, spend an hour working on a poem, and essay, or a blog post. When you are grateful for the options you have – even if you are working from home amid shutdowns – then that is enough.

Your Turn

Playtime creates greater flow.
Spirographs, Etch-a-Sketch, and Slinkys are just a few ways to re-enter flow through playtime. What was your favorite activity as a child? When was the last time you tried it as an adult?

Think back to grade school, junior high, or middle school. Think about the electives that you took that helped round out your schedule. Did you take dance or music classes? Weight training? Or, perhaps, like me, you did candle making. Whatever it might be, try to reunite your lost teen with your adult self. Take time to write, dance, sing, paint, or play with your Spirograph!  You’ll be glad you did!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

Filed Under: #creative tool, Alternative Therapy, art Tagged With: #flow, #gratitude, Creativity

February 22, 2019 By Marisa Moks-Unger

Gratitude Gently Grows Creative Flow

Creative Flow Grows From Gratitude

Gratitude increases flow.
Gratitude is an attitude that when practiced daily can grow creative flow even in harsh conditions.

Gratitude is a shift in attitude. It helps any situation become more bearable. How? First, gratitude helps us realize that there are silver linings within all situations. Also, gratitude makes what little good that is present seem to be enough. Finally, gratitude is a mind shift that not only helps ourselves, but anyone we interact with once we make the shift.

Take this heart I found on a sidewalk in New York City. It radiates warmth, care, and concern. Maybe the warmth came from the pink chalk? And, perhaps the care came from the symmetry of the rays coming from the heart? While I did not meet the artist, I did sense a sending out of these good pink heart vibes of concern for all passing.

The Art of Counting Blessings

Simply naming or listing the things we have going for us grows flow with gratitude. As the saying goes, it is better to light a candle than curse the dark. This intentional listing helps us move from a place of scarcity to abundance. Start with the basics creatives have: shelter, food, and clothing. Expand with the contacts, both personal and professional, experience, including education, and inspiration gleaned from it all. Finally, list the silver lining to the situation. Maybe wanting studio space is out of the question right now. The basement or garage provide adequate room to create. And, money is saved until the time comes to move into a studio. If that times arrives at all.

Your Turn

Take out your journal. List 10 situations that do not seem to be going your way. Choose one. Then, for 15 minutes brainstorm all the ways you can flip that situation. For example, if you think you need a studio to produce artwork, then rethink in your journal. Perhaps the kitchen table could be used a few times a week? Perhaps you live in a climate where you could set up outside. (If not currently, then when Spring arrives.) Describe to yourself on paper what an ideal studio looks like. Then, create a list of items you have and add a note to buy things you might need. Once the focus is turned towards what can be, then possibilities begin to arrive. Follow those leads. Be open to creating wherever you are.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: #creativity #flow #prompts, #flow, #gratitude, #grow, #mindset, #positiveattitude, #selfcare

November 7, 2018 By Marisa Moks-Unger

Complimentary Acts Lead to Flow

Cultivating Kind Expressions Add to Creativity

Today’s word-a-day choice is complimentary: adj. 1 of the nature of, conveying, or expressing a compliment, often one that is politely flattering: a complimentary remark. 2. free: a complimentary ticket. Writers often encounter challenges with the second definition. Most often truncated to comp, as in tickets to a theater performance or to a sporting event, these free tickets and activities come at an unspoken assumed price. If an event is comped, then a favorable review is expected. Moreover, big ticket free trips, or junkets, are not allowed by professional media outlets. Legitimate extravagant travel must be covered by the publication or at the expense of the writer.

Practice makes perfect when saying thanks.
Practice receiving complimentary remarks by saying “Thank you!” in a mirror until it feels natural.

The Best Way to Respond to Words of Praise

The first definition of the word really pulls at my heartstrings. My father taught me to accept a compliment with grace. Never embellish or diminish words of praise. Simply say Thank you.  Practice saying Thank you! in a mirror until it feels natural. In doing so, you enable yourself to absorb the compliment and let the power of the words resonate deeply within your soul. And who doesn’t need to hear more kind words?

The Message of the Expression

Being aware of the compliments that the Universe on each of us is the message behind complimentary: You are surrounded by gifts you often fail to recognize. Be aware of the placement and the brilliance of the appointment of these gifts, which are readily given for your use. 

Your Turn

Take our your journal and free-write about how it feels to receive words of praise. Do you take them in well or do you dismiss them? Consider working on saying Thank you! in a mirror until it feels natural.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

Filed Under: Career, Creativity, Heartlines Tagged With: #complimentary, #gratitude

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Scrabble Words for Flow

Create a Word Bank from Scrabble

Word Lists from Scrabble
First play the game, then get writing from your curated word list.

Sunday afternoons find my husband, mother-in-law, and I playing Scrabble. This ritual helps us to pass the time during the pandemic. The games usually run one to two hours. We have taken these games to a new level by anticipating them each week, then carefully crafting our word choices. It helps that all three of us are avid readers and come up with a variety of interesting diction. 

Also, the game gets my mother-in-law’s mind off of the local paper’s with its teeming death notices of Covid-19 victims – most from local residential living facilities.  And, she is now interested in the fact that I am using these word lists to write from professionally.

Next, free write for a few. Make a list of the words developed during the game. Then use the list as a springboard to write a creative piece using as many of the words as possible. Play with long and short lines. Add some rhymes. Look for alliteration. Give yourself about 10 minutes. See what images appear.

Then, select a genre or two to carry through. As a theme arises from the free write of the word list, follow the lead. Perhaps a poem rises up. Or, a one-act play. Or, both! Choose one genre knowing that you can come back and create more works from any single topic. 

Now, it’s your turn! If you have a Scrabble game somewhere hidden in a hall closet, it is time to get it out and try your hand at this writing tactic. It employs procrastination by allowing you to blow off writing at first by playing a game. Then, you are rewarded for the time you invested in the game by writing a piece from the words you and others generated.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

 

Copyright © 2021 WeWriteItRight.com