Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Transition Change

Transition Change
by Robert G Parent

download Transition Change
This article is 8 minutes.




Just started the new opportunity. I have a business now, doing the same thing I did at my job. There is a strange feeling within me. It doesn't feel like doubt. It's a good I guess. It's like everything has changed, the path taken, the choice made, I wonder if this is how transition feels.

I was anxious in antisapation, but after receiving that, the excitement went down. Its not a disapointment. its just real. It just is.

My logical side sees the potential and understands the reason for the change.

Its something so different then I'm used to, maybe that is the feeling, the feeling of new pathways being built in the mind. It's like eating a new piece of food that your not sure you will like.

I'm diffently in for a major growth experience.

The first time you tried coconut milk.

The first time you tried Guinness.

The first time you inhaled cigarette smoke.

The first time y0u heard your baby cry.

The first time you moved into your own apartment.

The first time you went to school.

The first time you bought a house.

All these are major life changing experiences.

All my jobs of the past, I had for a long time, and I punched a time clock. I don't anymore.

This is what life's about.

This also brings me to a show on the internet I listen to, "Cloudy Day Art", in this episode Will Brown talked with Thom Ingram ( the Poet Guru ) about different poetic forms writers should know, while I agree with a lot of what they said, I was thinking that there is more. It wasn't until this journal entry and this current meditation that I realized an important truth. While poetic form is important, the most important concept is breathing life into your work, whatever work it is ( not just writing ). To understand that statement, meditate on why writers write -- to help understand life -- and is why people read, to expand their life's experience. That is what makes any work inspirational.

One example of inspirational work ( beside my writing ) is the United States Constitution. Why? Because it expands our life's experience. When the Constitution of the United States was written, it was totally different from conventional thoughts of how "things were done." It introduced a new way of thinking, of doing, of being.

I'd like to get back to the interview Will did with Thom and add, when a person wants to learn poetry they should remember these three idea.

1. Just write. Take their life's experience about something that is currently going through their life and write about it.

2. See what is there. What questions keep coming up? What feelings? What thoughts?

3. Use the tools you already know as a person living in your country.

Lanuage -- Words. Invest in a dictionary or thesaurus. Pick out words that stick out for you. There is a reason that they do.

Feelings -- work to understand what and why you're feeling at the moments that stand out in your life. Truly great and inspirational works ( writing, songs, art, painting, photos... ) understand this tool.

Write for the ear. If it sounds good for you chances are it will sound good for someone else. Use words, punctuation, pauses and dashes to bring up feelings, thoughts, and ideas out to you reader. Describe don't tell. You will hear this in all good creative writing classes. What this does is it opens up a door to your reader to bring in their own thoughts, feelings, ideas, quesitons, and life expression. Another technique to this tool is to ask someone you trust to read or listen to your work and ask them quesitons. The answers will help you judge if you accomplished your goal. Remember, to truly have a multi-dimensional piece, you should get as many people you trust with different thoughts, ideas, feelings, and life experience then yours.

Once you do this for at least 1 to 3 years, then look into the many poetic forms and continue your play, your exploration.

A good book is "An idiot's guide to writing poetry" by Nikki Moustaki. But, don't read it cover to cover. Use it as a reference book like the dictionary or thesaurus. Browse and notice what poetic forms come up or what your attracted to in the moment.

In closing, some people get tied into the mechanics of writing or in doing any other work, that they forget about the why. The reason why we write poetry or do anything is to expand our life's experience and come to understand our Point Of View, our questions. And if we can understand ourselves, we can understand others. Always look for new tools, new experiences, new expressions not just in poetry but in you life.

I wrote this article as a journal entry trying to understand a feeling and look where it developed into.

Stay Creative in the Magix of live,

Robert G Parent

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