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Listen With Your Heart

March 20, 2015 By Dave Leave a Comment

"Listen With Heart" by Len Matthews

“Listen With Heart” by Len Matthews

“The things which hurt, instruct.” – Benjamin Franklin

As a boy, my one true love . . . was basketball.

That’s right. Like Juliet to Romeo, basketball was the sun, only . . . okay, well, that may be stretching it a bit. But the idea of playing, the feeling I got from being on the hardwood or the blacktop found its way into every corner of my brain, it climbed beneath my skin, so all I thought about was shooting hoops.

Now, I was a skinny kid with asthma who couldn’t run fast, couldn’t jump high. So, you know, me and basketball were the perfect match.

I loved playing basketball so much, I spent every day, rain or shine, shooting, dribbling, running, jumping rope, trying to get better. I sought out coaches I respected and asked them for drills. And they shared them with me, even though I didn’t play for them. That struck me as quite generous.

It was that way all through high school, too.

The summer between my junior and senior year, I averaged 10+ hours of basketball every day. I played in a park about six miles from my home. It took me an hour to walk there every day after driver’s education, dribbling my ball, stopping at two other courts along the way for some practice shots, maybe a few games of one-on-one.

I won’t go into the whole story, not here, but suffice it to say, my dream was to play Division I basketball at UNC. Syracuse would have been my second choice and Virgina third (James Worthy, Louie Orr, Ralph Sampson were all playing back in those days). I spent all my energy chasing that dream and, even in retrospect, those were the best days in my young life.

I spent every minute I could doing the thing I loved. I lived the thing I loved. I was the thing I loved. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Just after the season started during my senior year, I blocked a shot in practice and came down on a teammate’s foot, snapping my ankle. My season was over. I worked hard to rehab, hoped that if I gave myself time during my first year in college to fully recover, I could try out for the team as a sophomore.

But as Robert Frost put it, way leads on to way.

Over the years, my dreams have changed. I wouldn’t say they’ve been abandoned, as much as that they morphed. Other interests rose up. Of course, for much of my life I didn’t listen to those interests, not beyond having some deep down feeling in my gut.

I think that’s true of many of us. We get swept up in the whole way leading on to way and, for some of us, we forget to listen. We stop listening for any number of reasons. But it’s important to listen. I think that’s where happiness lives, in the listening, and in the doing . . . in both.

It took me decades before I heard that voice inside letting me know that I had a new love, a new passion. There was this completely different thing I never expected that filled me with the same kind of feelings I got from playing ball (and i did it most days without getting sweat in my eyes).

You’re here because you’re a creative – a writer, or a painter, or a singer, or a photographer, or a gardener, or a mixed media artist, or . . . You’ve already done some listening. On Fridays we tend to look back on the week, or further, and reflect on the action steps we took related not just to our goals, but to our intentions. What things did we do to honor that voice deep down inside us?

Some weeks we may do more than others. Some weeks we may find ourselves on a different path entirely. That’s the importance of listening. Of paying attention. Sometimes our dreams change. And that’s not necessarily bad or good. You have to decide – by listening . . .

Sometimes an obstacle arises that is painful, that keeps us from our goals, from our dreams for a time. But those are the times we learn about ourselves . . . if we listen. We learn different paths to those dreams, or we learn those dreams may have only been part of our story. That is why understanding our intentions is so important. Why listening . . . to our hearts, to our souls is so important.

The photo at the top is titled “Listen With Heart” and it claims that a true friend listens with the heart. Sometimes we forget to be a true friend to ourselves. That’s all we’re suggesting now.

Take a few moments today and be still. Take a few deep breaths and listen. What is your heart telling you? Your soul? What is your dream? And what steps have you taken toward it?

If you haven’t taken any, well, that happens. But let’s not except that as the only outcome. After all, you just listened and that’s a step.

Now answer this – what is the first step or the next step you will take?


Photo Credit: “Listen With Heart” by Len Matthews photo above is used as per Creative Commons License on Flickr.

Filed Under: creative living, Obstacles, personal story, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: creativity, distractions, emotions, follow your bliss, happiness, listen, obstacles, who we are, your passion, your true self

Let Me Live Again

November 6, 2014 By Terry Price Leave a Comment

“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity” – Charles Mingus

Creativity is who we are.

The fascinating thing is that it takes a lifetime to believe that.

We are creators.

But it takes the courage, the patience, the living experience to understand it…to believe it.

We live lives desperately trying to fit in when it is the essence of life to discover, to understand our uniqueness. What is it that makes us who we are?

I remember learning in grade school that every snowflake was unique. It was different from any snowflake that had ever existed. I had trouble believing that because when I looked out into the back yard (back when it really snowed in Nashville) all I saw was a big pile of snow. All white. All cold. All solid.

But I learned that each molecule was different, even as it combined to make the whole.

And so it is with us.

I am a creator. But I am a different creator from you, my friend. You are a creator too. But you are different. But not just different. You are different in such a simple way. I think that what Mingus was trying to say is that you are different from the essence of who you are. That’s the simplicity. That’s Dorothy learning that she knew all long how to get home. That’s how George Bailey learned how he had all of the adventure and paradise he longed for right within the walls of his home and his family.

Maybe we are called to be explorers of new lands or new ideas. Maybe we are called to be explorers of our own backyards. Neither is more important than the other. Both are unique.

One of the wonderful secrets to life is finding the magic where we are. Find the magic where we are called to be. It might be on the moon or in a castle in Tuscany. But it’s just as likely to be in a small frame house in Tennessee. You see, location isn’t important. The willingness to believe, the willingness to see the magic in the everyday, the “ordinary,” is what makes it awesome. It’s what makes life and living amazing. It’s what makes us unique and special. And we are. You are. You are as simple and as complex and magnificent as Bach or any of his symphonies. Or as Charles Mingus, who was brilliant enough to “get it.”

Filed Under: Creative Writing, Creativity, Flow, myth, mythology, New Harmony, Obstacles, personal myth, personal story, Retreat, Writers, Writing, Writing Retreat Tagged With: body, Charles Mingus, conscious, emotions, expression, feelings, follow your bliss, getting in yor own way, happiness, obstacles, our essence, painting, photography, Time, unconscious, Walking meditation, who we are, writing, your passion, your true self

Self-Doubt and Worry

May 1, 2014 By Dave Leave a Comment

“Worried Eggs II” by Domiriel

“Worried Eggs II” by Domiriel

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, 
most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain

Self-Doubt plagues many writers, artists, creatives (i.e. worry that they might not have something worthwhile to say, or that they might not be able to say it in a worthwhile way). The often crippling result is that the worry part often gets in the way of the trying part. And that’s a shame.

The worthiness component indicates self-judgement, which indicates time spent in the old noggin.

Writers sometimes worry about the outcome and, as a result, have a difficult time getting started. It is almost impossible to settle into a creative act and to fully immerse yourself if you are worried. Focus is directed to the imagined possible outcome, emotional energy is redirected to the fight or flight response rather than being used for diving down deep where memory and the imagination meet. That’s where the creating happens – in that very out of the way place and it requires a slowing down – it takes solitude of a sort, it takes stillness – to get there.

But when worry becomes anxiety becomes fear, the imagination is so preoccupied there’s not much room for anything else.

Look, we are creatures of emotion and imagination. We have the capacity to feel and to think and to imagine. Our brains are always on. One of those things (a thought, an emotion, etc) can spark the others without our consciously setting out to do so.

That’s part of being human.

But it’s also part of what gets in the way of our realizing our dreams, or even chasing them sometimes. And it sometimes gets in the way of our being happy (regardless of whether we chase our dreams or not).

“Understand not everything is meant to be understood . . .” by deeplifequotes

“Understand not everything is meant to be understood . . .” by deeplifequotes

The key is finding ways to become cognizant of the differences Karen pointed out between fear and worry. Fear being a real, in that moment, threat. Worry being an imagined future possibility (and that doesn’t mean you have to think about the future, you can worry that a thing has already happened that you hope hasn’t happened, but since you don’t know in the present moment, it’s still a possible future consequence that is being given time and space in the present).

So, what can we do, if we in fact identify the culprit, WORRY invading our lives?

The answer will be varied, as we’re all different, the reasons behind our worry are also different.

Here are a few things that might help you get out of the chattering-in-the-head mode so you can be present:

Breathing Exercises – We humans live in our heads. All of the time. Hence the universal appeal of external methods to help get us out of our heads for a bit.

But one thing we often forget is that we also live in our bodies. All the time. The mind, the body, the emotions . . . they’re all connected. And sometimes, rather than dulling the mind, which often leads to worse feelings afterwards and a lack of productivity in the moment, we might get out of our heads through our bodies. By breathing. By moving. By training our brains to focus in on specific things.

Yoga – most people think yoga requires you to be a contortionist, that you have to be super-bendy for it to work, but just sitting still, just slowing down and being aware of the moment, of your body, of your breath, that is yoga. You can do it in a chair, on the floor. You don’t have to go to a studio or be on the mat.

Two poses I like for just slowing down and calming the mind are Savasana (Corpse Pose) and Viparita Karani (Fountain of Youth or Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose).

Get Outside (to Walk and to Observe) – walking by itself is great, but you can still spend the whole time going over and over and over what might come to pass, which is why honing in on the moment is important).

Focus on the air. What’s it doing? How does it feel?

Is the sun out? How does that feel?

What sort of shadows does it create?

What can you smell? Or hear?

What do you truly see?

Allow your senses to be fully engaged.

Most of us tool around on our walks in these beautiful settings (myself included) totally oblivious to the setting itself. We feel good, often much better just by being there. Often without even paying much attention once we’re there. So why do we feel better? You can get an idea of the answer if you allow yourself to engage your senses. If you see something and you slow down or stop and really take it in, you suddenly become aware of the moment and of the place. You are truly present in time and space.

And here are a few things that might help get out of the fight or flight response that happens if worry leads to fear (which Karen also indicated can lead to panic):

Find a Pose – I love Yoga Journal. You can find an assortment of poses with photos on how to do the pose and they also break down the therapeutic and the physiological benefits (i.e. how the poses can benefit the body, as well as the mind and the emotions). Look at all these poses that can help with ANXIETY. That’s right, you don’t have to do an entire sequence to reap the benefits.

Just Stop – Jon Kabat-Zinn defines MINDFULNESS as “moment to moment, non-judgmental awareness.” He claims, the ONLY MOMENT we are EVER ALIVE IN is NOW.” He also says we need to pay attention in the moment.

Meditation– no, that is NOT medication. Nice try! Here’s a simple video with a few suggestions on how to meditate. And this article alludes to “Meditation And Your 40,000-Year-Old Brain.”

Free-Write – (if you’re a painter, then just have at it with no purpose aside from adding color to the blank canvas and see what you get). This is not about quality. It’s merely about letting go! You can still pick something you might want to work on, a new poem, a specific scene for the novel, but don’t worry about using it. Allow yourself fifteen minutes or half-an-hour to just spew words on the page or the computer screen. And if you can use a notepad and a pen or pencil, let your body be part of the process.

This can be quite freeing (no pun intended). And here’s an article on a few of the benefits of free-writing in a journal.

Play – give yourself time to be playful (which free-writing is also aimed at).

“The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.” – Brian Sutton-Smith

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” – Carl Jung

“Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.” – Henri Matisse

“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles . . . by the ears,
by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” – Mark Twain

Let’s be honest. If it were as easy as saying, drag your thoughts away, none of us would worry for very long. But Twain’s comment is still on point. Do what you can to free your thoughts from your troubles. It’s already a huge undertaking to turn inward, to hold your breath and dive to your very depths in order to tap that wellspring, and to create.

But if your thoughts are entwined with your worries, breath-holding becomes involuntary, you flounder in the shallow end, and often never truly submerge. You never fully immerse yourself in your unconscious and let it take over. You never get into any sort of flow.

“How much pain they have cost us,
the evils which have never happened.” – Thomas Jefferson

I bet if we went back over the past year, decade, longer, and sorted out all the worries we’ve had from all the real problems that actually happened, one side of that scale would far surpass the other.

Think of all that time and energy spent worrying being used to do the thing you love.

Don’t get me wrong. I worry. Worrying is, as I said before, part of the human condition. The trick comes, I believe, in recognizing worry for what it is and squelching the anxiety before it takes over.

Here’s one suggestion I came across recently for calming the mind, emotions, body:

“Begin with the Lotus position, sitting crossed legged with hands resting on the knees, palms up. The most important thing is to remember to breathe. To calm the rapid breathing often accompanying panic attacks, focus on your breathing at first, a five count in and a five count out, but let the breathing become natural. Let the breathing set the rhythm of the practice. Eyes should be closed, listening to the rhythm of the breathing. After five or ten minutes here, the body should feel calmer.” (This tip comes from an article on “10 Yoga Poses to Fight Depression and Anxiety” which can be found here).

“Don’t worry. Be happy.” Nice song. Wise words. Difficult task. But you can do it. Hopefully a few of the above tips will help. After all, I’m hoping you get to the page, too. Speaking of which, it’s time for me to work on some new poems.

Keep after it, y’all!

The above post was taken from a longer post. You can read the original post here.


““Understand not everything is meant to be understood . . .” by deeplifequotes, “Worried Eggs II” by Domiriel, and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” by Evil Erin are all used as per Creative Commons License on Flickr.

Filed Under: Creative Writing, Creativity, Flow, Meditation, Obstacles, Uncategorized, Writing, Yoga Tagged With: anxiety, art, body, conscious, creativity, emotions, feelings, flow, happiness, Mediation, movement, obstacles, self-doubt, unconscious, worry, yoga

Yoga And Writing

March 20, 2014 By Dave Leave a Comment

Yoga Into Writing

Using Yoga As A Way Into Your Writing

“. . . the intellect is a great danger to creativity . . . because you begin to rationalize and make up reasons for things, instead of staying with your own basic truth — who you are, what you are, what you want to be. I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads ‘Don’t think!‘ You must never think at the typewriter — you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.” – Ray Bradbury

In addition to the vast disconnect many people have with the world around them, there is also a disconnect from the self which is perpetuated by the multitude of distractions man has created for the purpose of keeping the conscious self from delving into the unconscious, into the subtle body, into one’s feelings.

Back in 1923, Aldous Huxley alluded to those distractions when he wrote, “There are quiet places in the mind, but we build bandstands and factories on them. . . . to put a stop to the quietness . . . All the thoughts, all the preoccupations in my head–round and round, continually . . . To put an end to the quiet.”

Huxley suggests that it’s not just part of the human condition to have obstacles to overcome, but that we also create them so as to divert our focus. So as to keep ourselves out of the quiet, out of stillness, which is, of course, exactly where the writer must go.

Those defense mechanisms are often set up to keep you away from your emotions, which, as Bradbury states, is a problem if you want to be creative. Yoga offers you a way out of your head, so to speak, a way to pull back from those preoccupations that go round and round, and a way back in – through the body – to your unconscious mind, to your feelings, to the very place where art is created.

Yoga is trendy these days. You can find at least one class of some sort in most communities: often in an assortment of styles and flavors, not to mention a variety of settings from strip malls to churches to dance studios, from fitness facilities to board rooms to classrooms. To some, yoga may possess a “new age” quality – perhaps due to it’s ability to help one reconnect with oneself – mind, body, and emotion – yet it is an art and a philosophy that has been practiced and espoused for thousands of years. So, you could say, it’s a rather ancient trend.

Believe it or not, even if you can’t quite reach your toes, even if you haven’t seen them in decades, a little time on the mat can help you get to the page. And it can also potentially help you transform the white space into something more, to imbue all the possibility you find there with some essential part of yourself.

Writing is an extremely rewarding endeavor, not because it isn’t work, but because it is the sort of work that brings the writer closer to her true self. She turns inward, away from the ubiquitous distractions of the world, but also away from those in her own mind.

She dives down to the darkest depths where imagination and memory spark, where her conscious focus blends with her unconscious subtle body, and she explores that part of herself she could not otherwise see except in the special light of those sparks.

This is, at times, daunting, yet also quite wonderful, especially if she is able to dive when and how she chooses.

If you develop a separate yoga practice, you’re likely to experience the positive physical, mental, and emotional effects of your yoga sessions as they carry over into your writing sessions. But if you intimately and intentionally join the two, if you unite them into one practice, the results can be remarkable.

And that’s one of the things about the retreat that I enjoy most. Showing writers how to do specific yoga sequences as part of their daily writing practice, as a prelude to the writing – whenever they might lack inspiration, or as a way back into that part of the self from which the stories are to be mined.

Depending on your specific writing intention, you can customize the sequence of poses to quiet your mind, to tap into your emotions, to slip out of the conscious mind and into the unconscious, into a creative flow.

“If there is no feeling, there cannot be great art.” – Bradbury


Huxley, Aldous, Antic Hay, London: Chatto & Windus, 1923, 123. 

Filed Under: Creative Writing, Creativity, Flow, Obstacles, Uncategorized, Writing, Yoga Tagged With: Aldous Huxley, body, conscious, distractions, don't think, emotions, feelings, flow, mind, obstacles, Ray Bradbury, sequences, subtle body, unconscious, writing, yoga

West of the Moon Blog

"Listen With Heart" by Len Matthews

Listen With Your Heart

March 20, 2015 By Dave Leave a Comment

“The things which hurt, instruct.” - Benjamin Franklin As a boy, my one true love . . . was basketball. That’s right. Like Juliet to Romeo, basketball was the sun, only . . . okay, well, that may be stretching it a bit. But the idea of playing, the … [Read More...]

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