Dear Friends,
I hope that the last seven days has been good to you~or full of good moments along with all of the other messy human stuff.
I loved hearing about your signs and symbols of growth. Keep sending them my way! Keep noticing them.
This week’s prompt about growth might feel like a paradox but stick with me for a moment: in order to grow, to break through patterns, to find new depths, sometimes we need to stop. Do nothing. Rest.
Living in a society that tells us to do more/be more, that values productivity above most else, makes it revolutionary to rest.
I struggle with slowing down. I think most of us do?
This week, I’m sharing a favorite summer poem The House Was Quiet and The World Was Calm by Wallace Stevens. Click the arrow above to listen to me read it to you. With his words, Stevens brings to life the feeling of entering a book so deeply that you forget everything else, your concerns fall away, you are the quiet and calm of entering the book. Words, imagination, reader are one.
Take a look/listen to the poem and then play with this week’s writing prompt about growth/rest. I look forward to receiving from you!
The House Was Quiet and The World Was Calm by Wallace Stevens The house was quiet and the world was calm. The reader became the book; and summer night Was like the conscious being of the book. The house was quiet and the world was calm. The words were spoken as if there was no book, Except that the reader leaned above the page, Wanted to lean, wanted much most to be The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom The summer night is like a perfection of thought. The house was quiet because it had to be. The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind: The access of perfection to the page. And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world, In which there is no other meaning, itself Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself Is the reader leaning late and reading there.
Writing Practice: Set aside 5-7 minutes for this practice. Write in a journal or open a ‘Journey with The Season’ document where you can return each Sunday.
Prompt: How do you seek quiet/calm/rest? What does it feel like to give yourself permission for that kind of time? What obstacles come in your way?
Deepening Practice: Recall a book that took brought you into its world so completely that it was hard to put it down. Write a letter to the author of the book or to one of the characters in its story. Tell them everything you felt while reading and about the connections between the book and your own life.
Hungry for more great summer poems? Check out my curated poetry list here.
Blue Stoop recorded the free workshop I lead earlier this month~if you’ve been curious about joining a writing circle with me, check out this experience for a little taste!