The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Creative Flow

Home
>
Creativity
>
The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Creative Flow

The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Creative Flow

* Sylvia Plath teaches a valuable lesson about the Even Flow - opening the channels for creativity, regardless of this is for poetry or not.

Sylvia Plath was a poet and that was her job and her life.

She would every day no matter what, as soon as breakfast was over and no matter where she was in the world, sit down with her notebook and just start to write - about absolutely anything at all.

As she explains, this was NOT in order to create a wondrous new poem, but ONLY in order to keep the channels open, keep in the flow.

It wasn't about practising either, but simply an exercise in FLOW - and she was very adamant about doing this, put it before many other if not all other things because she considered it so very important.

Because if a good idea came along or an insight at any time of the day which was to come afterwards, the channels would be open and a super poem would just simple glide out and through and become, there and then.

So she would write about anything whatsoever, no holds barred - a shadow on the windowsill, a bit of lettuce, an old mushroom she'd found on a walk and brought back to her room. About the table cloth, about her hands, about a little pool of light on the carpet or about her feelings of having nothing whatsoever new to say - and just let it go from there for her "morning exercise" - no expectations of it other than knowing the ACT of doing it was what did the trick.

I read her biography and this really stuck with me. I understood it right away and I implemented it right away too. Switch on computer, call up blank word document and just start writing.

Often, I would start with the words, "What shall I write about today?" and sometimes it would go on like this, "I really don't know, everything seems a bit far away and nebulous, jeez I wish I was somewhere else, somewhere fresh and breezy, with a wide blue sky ..."

As you can imagine, from there you can and most importantly, you DO automatically get into all sorts of places, all sorts of states and the flow really does come, it just happens and Ms Plath was absolutely right, it really does open the channels.

Now as to application of this.

They are veritably endless.

What channels are the most important to you, bring you the most rewards, carry the most important things like poetry was to Sylvia Plath and story telling to Silvia Hartmann in their respective times?

Creative music? Painting?

Loving perhaps?

Now that's an interesting idea, isn't it.

You could have your breakfast and immediately afterwards and as a part of a routine just like brushing teeth, find something to love in your environment - a toy or nic-nac, a shadow, a curtain, a house plant, a table top - like in the original usage of the pattern, it is NOT about the object or the outcome but simply to open the channels for the FLOW.

It might be more urgent to you to *be MORE loved* instead and you might want to practise receiving with the brushing of your teeth instead - receiving energy from the same toy or nic-nac, from a shadow, curtain or a house plant, anything in your environment at all, and letting it into your heart.

And as the Sylvia Plath exercise was NOT about making a poem to be sold later, this is not about making you be healed but only about opening the channels and practicing the FLOW - because when it flows, it flows and you get all these other benefits naturally and as a side effect, of course.

This is a truly superb pattern to be applied to all and everything which may be important to you at any particular time; what makes it so superb is the insistance on the FLOW as opposed to the PRODUCT.

Bringing in the PRODUCT disturbs the flow - of course! - and that is a fantastic reminder that there are certain things that, if done for their own purpose and aim, are the true building blocks and pre-requisites for the products which may follow - be they paintings, or stories, or poems, or our abilities to give and receive this and that.

These products are a result of a well established Even Flow and that is something people tend to forget in their hurry towards and focus on the "end result" - when the products are in truth, nothing more than the wake left behind a ship which indeed, contains all the valuables.

For free ebooks, patterns, techniques, mp3 downloads & more please visit http://starfields.org

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Bush calls stricken Mukasey at hospital to chat (AP)

AP - The White House says President Bush has called stricken Attorney General Michael Mukasey to see how he was feeling after his collapse during a speech Thursday night.

Obama plans to nominate Clinton for top diplomat (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after Thanksgiving, a new milestone for the former first lady and a convergence of two political forces who fought hard for the presidency.

Congress sends jobless benefit extension to Bush (AP)

AP - With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush is about to ensure that millions of laid-off workers won't see their unemployment checks disappear as the year-end holidays approach.

European, Asian markets rebound despite US losses (AP)

AP - European and Asian stock markets rebounded Friday as expectations of a recovery on Wall Street prompted investors to scoop up battered financial and energy shares.

Neb. lawmakers form task force on child drop-offs (AP)

AP - Lawmakers are poised to close a loophole that led to troubled teens being abandoned at Nebraska hospitals, but they aren't stopping there. Instead, they're vowing to make sure families can get help in a crisis.

US details role for additional Afghan forces (AP)

AP - With the United States reevaluating strategy in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling allies that additional U.S. forces planned for the war must be shared across the region taking the brunt of the fighting.

Report says CIA withheld info from White House (AP)

AP - The CIA withheld information from the White House, Justice Department and Congress about the 2001 shooting down of a plane over Peru carrying an American missionary family, part of a yearslong cover-up of lethal violations in U.S. drug-interdiction procedures, according to a classified internal CIA report.

Madonna, Ritchie granted preliminary divorce (AP)

AP - Madonna and Guy Ritchie were granted a preliminary decree of divorce Friday.

Man says cell phone saved him from stray bullet (AP)

AP - R.J. Richard says he doesn't normally put his cell phone in his chest pocket. But he says it saved his life the one time he did.

Steelers defense controls Bengals in 27-10 win (AP)

AP - Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers know exactly how to beat the Cincinnati Bengals with or without Chad Ocho Cinco.

Central bankers wary of deflation (Reuters)

Reuters - Euro zone demand is plunging and price pressures vanishing, business surveys showed on Friday, while central bankers weighed the bleak prospect of deflation.

Obama on track to name Clinton as top diplomat (Reuters)

Reuters - Retired Marine Gen. James Jones emerged as a leading contender for White House national security adviser as President-elect Barack Obama worked on Thursday to assemble his foreign policy team.

Bush takes financial reform agenda to APEC forum (Reuters)

Reuters - George W. Bush makes his last scheduled trip abroad as U.S. president on Friday, heading to an Asia-Pacific summit where he will seek support for global financial reform and hold talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program.

Thousands protest in Iraq against U.S. troops pact (Reuters)

Reuters - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched Friday against a pact letting U.S. forces stay in Iraq until 2011, toppling an effigy of President George W. Bush where U.S. troops once tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein.

Citigroup eyes options, including merger (Reuters)

Reuters - Citigroup Inc lost more than one-quarter of its market value on growing worries over whether it has enough capital to withstand billions of dollars of potential losses and despite new support from its largest individual investor.

Verizon staff had unauthorized access to Obama's cell (Reuters)

Reuters - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.

Islamists on trail of Somali pirates (Reuters)

Reuters - Dozens of Somali Islamist insurgents entered a port on Friday in search of the pirate group behind the seizure of a Saudi supertanker that was the world's biggest hijack, a local elder said.

Attorney General Mukasey sounds well: White House (Reuters)

Reuters - President George W. Bush spoke with U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday and the top U.S. law enforcement official sounded well after collapsing during a speech, the White House said.

Use of nuclear weapons more likely in future: US intelligence (AFP)

AFP - The use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely by 2025, according to a bleak US intelligence report that warns that US global dominance is likely to weaken over the next two decades.

Thousands of Sadrists protest Iraq-US military pact (AFP)

AFP - Thousands of Shiite followers of the firebrand anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad on Friday to protest a security accord that would allow US troops to remain in Iraq until 2011.

The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Creative Flow

Creativity Creativity