Beliefs

Chapter 2 Beliefs

I want to share an experience that shows a change in my beliefs.  It was November 1999, and I decided to attend a weekend retreat with Angeles Arrien in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The topic as I remember it was “Love and Relationships”. 

Before one of our many breaks, Angeles taught us about Haiku poems.  She said, “There are three lines in the poem, the first is five syllables, the second is seven syllables, and the third is five syllables.  And there is at least one element from nature in the poem.”  With that simple explanation, she gave us an assignment to write Haiku poems during our break.

As I left for the break I thought Oh well, I never have been good at poetry, but I’ll do my best to do the assignment.  I took a walk around the complex, enjoying the trees and flowers, stopping occasionally to enjoy the smell and color of the little wild flowers.  Then I found a lovely spot overlooking a canyon.  I sat on this nice wooden bench swing.  As I was sitting, swinging, I began to write in my journal.  I wrote at least five Haiku poems as I sat there.  I marveled at how easy they began to flow after I finished the first one.

 

I felt good when I returned to the workshop room, thinking I had at least done the assignment.  Angeles asked us to share our poems.  I listened to the poems written by other participants, and then found the courage to read a couple of mine. 

Here are a few of the poems I remember writing that day:

Enjoy the silence,
The grove of deep rooted trees,
Sentinels of peace.

Trust is like crystal.
Once shattered by emotions,
Hard to repair it.

We open to love,
as water flows across rocks,
without resistance.

Spirit moves in me,
Like a snake through the tall grass,
Slow unseen power.

I was surprised and pleased that people responded well to my poems.  I thought Perhaps I’m more creative than I give myself credit for.  I remembered that years ago I’d caught myself thinking I’m not very creative.  At that time I wondered where that thought, that belief came from.  And I began to shift that belief.  Now, writing Haiku poems helped me to affirm my creativity.  When I returned home after the retreat, I was inspired to continue writing Haiku poems.  I created a page so that I could post them on my website. 

I decided to print some of my poems and share them with a friend.  She brought out a book and talked to me about the ‘right’ way to compose Haiku poems.  I noticed my reaction, at first angry and then defensive.  Finally I thought, Perhaps my poems are not exactly what the book or people say they should be.  However, I like them, and I get comments from people who say they enjoy them.  So, I was going to continue writing despite my friend’s comments. 

I also received a couple e-mail messages that my poems were not true Haikus.  So I added a note at the top of my web page: “Are these true Haiku? Or simply my best effort to share special moments?”

It seems to me that creativity can be very fragile.  When we create a poem, or draw a picture, or write a story, we can become quite attached to it, and defensive if someone criticizes our work.  It is very easy to discourage a person.  It takes skill to encourage and support someone, while helping them to improve the quality of their efforts.

As a teacher, I have noticed this, and made efforts to learn how to comment and guide without discouraging anyone from continuing to make efforts to grow and improve.  I always appreciate it when my friends and teachers do this for me.

Reviews

[cyanskye]

What a nice, supportive piece. I have found my confidence rattled several times on this site, and this is from people that seem very gentle with their suggestions. It is a learning process to discover the strength in yourself to be content with what you create. There is also a lesson to be found in taking even gentle suggestions and finding a way to improve without losing the essence of yourself in your creative work. Keep up the good job.
C

[Arthur Henn]

I've read this whole piece, wanting to read more. There is a GREAT MESSAGE here for all of us.
Haiku poems, yes they have their rules of nature and I think as you have said here the truest of all nature in found within our souls and if I or we were to write (5-7-5) without having anything to do without nature its still OK.

I love taking photos of nature and sunsets are a favorite of mine. God used a sunset to open my heart to him, accepting his gift. I'm fifty-two and I never ever in my life time thought I would like to write poetry as I can not go a day without wanting to write something.

Many people that know me outside of my blogging, have no idea that I write poetry and they see a different side of me. They don't see the real me and that real person is in the words I write. "Reflections of My Soul"

The outside is rubbish, the real me is to read what I write. This is who we really are.

I really enjoyed reading all that you have here.

Arthur Henn