
Inspiration: Unblocking Your Creative Flow
Day 301, Friday, November 1, 2024
Welcome dear Mindful Writers and Mindful Creators,
This is quite an exciting morning for me as we begin a new phase on our ongoing creative and spiritual journey together. The goal remains the same only the Power Spot has moved. This month’s (Month 11) topic is “Mindfulness, Awe, Wonder and Delight.” from the book Unblock Your Creative Flow: 12 Months of Mindfulness for Writers and Artists. What a topic to begin with from our new home!
We begin with today’s Inspiration from Day 301; pp. 362 from the book mentioned above followed by the Journal Prompt and the Link to today’s meditation. The time it takes to practice these is between 30-45 minutes. Enjoy the process!
Inspiration
Awe and wonderment are sacred emotions that kindle spiritual delight, tenderness, and kindness. Ancient Hindu texts teach that within us there is an innate force of joyful wonder, but we have to create outer circumstances for it to sprout and surface. This may happen when you face an adversity or when you watch sun rays filter through spring foliage.
Wonder is a heightened state of awareness that is triggered when something unexpected happens that disorients yet delights you. It is present in you all the time but remains hidden under mental clouds until something enters your consciousness and parts the clouds.
You have the power to turn each moment into a wondrous one. There is no reason to wait for a stunning natural landscape in search of wonder and awe. It is present in this moment. Pay attention to your vision that is reading the words I wrote with my dexterous fingers. You are reading and comprehending the images from my imaginings that I translated in letters and arranged in sentences that now echo in your mind. If this is not awesome and wonderous, then what is?
In the same way, imagine how you transmute raw ingredients into a fancy dinner dish. This simple marvel has become a jaded action because you perform it repeatedly. But isn’t wonder here now? The more aware and attentive you are to your surroundings, the more delight you feel in your daily living. Think about the clothes you are wearing, the house you are living in, the family you have created – and what it was before.
Potent moments of wonder are subtle, fleeting. Your imagination and intuition come together. One moment the feeling is there, the next moment it is gone. But when you are curious and mentally open, when you are bewildered and hold things in high regard, you get connected to your Authentic Self and realize how awe-some the universe truly is.
Journal Prompt
Do an experiment: Pay extra attention to an activity you do every day. Watch your inhaling and exhaling and focus on whatever it is you are doing or saying. Journal about the difference you notice.
Meditation Link
“Meditation for Mindful Writers, Body, Heart, Mind”
Body: https://cutt.ly/Mji0Dw5
Lorraine
I have the power to turn each moment into a wondrous one… yes! When I set out to prepare a meal or do laundry with mindfulness, I accomplish it. However, time is usually my enemy. When I’m rushing, the mindfulness evaporates. This morning I asked myself if it takes less time to fold laundry in an agitated, hurried state than it does in a mindful state. Probably not. Thanks, Madhu, for the reminder that I can’t control time but I can control mindfulness.
ETHEL M FRIAR
Thank you for the opportunity to continue spending each day in a time of devotion to our true selves, to our call to write, and a way to experience the joy and wonder of life. I love how you expressed the wonderment of being able to convey our thoughts, feelings, and ideas in the written word. This has never ceased to be a wondrous thing with me. Even as a child I would sit in awe of the written word. When my preschool daughter sat and cried in frustration that she could not yet write, I could so relate to her and so I taught her to do it as my own mother taught me. It is wonder-full to have a place to go each morning to keep this spark alive!
jennifer d. diamond
Good morning, Madhu! I love how you describe wonder as, “Your imagination and intuition come together.” I truly hope I continue to cultivate my ability to be “curious and mentally open” for the rest of my life! Thank you for sharing and continuing to provide a space to practice “alone together.”
Madhu B. Wangu
Welcome! Welcome!
Lorraine, Ethel and Jenn for your comments and presence. I’m thrilled that we’ve finally made this move. And this is happening!
So glad to read that today’s Inspiration is beneficial in more than one way.
Deborah H Catanese
Awe-some!
Madhu B. Wangu
So good to see you here, Deborah!
Donna Lucas
Good morning on Saturday. The potential of awe and wonder we each have inside of us thrills me. Last week my seventh-grade writers listened and analyzed What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong (some even sang like Armstrong :). After discussing the simple pleasures and images in the song, I introduced students to the ode, a poetic form that celebrates its subject in an exaggerated way. It’s been awesome to hear students read their words of praise for simple things that inspire awe and wonder.
Madhu B. Wangu
First, I’m so happy to see you here, Donna. Welcome!
What a wondrous exercise to teach your students how to write an ode. Perhaps you can share a couple of these with us. I love that song by Louis Armstrong. I want to listen to it again; perhaps today.