Tag Archives: Flow

PROMPT: One Small Improvement

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Daily writing prompt
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?
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Use a timer to create distraction-free zones in your day. When you’re working on a task, set the timer for some reasonable time (say, 1 hour.) [Do not try to do many hours at a time, you should move and ruminate on a regular basis.] Until the timer goes off, social media doesn’t exist. YouTube doesn’t exist. Snacks do not exist. Visitors do not exist. Phone calls don’t exist. Texts don’t exist. Only the task at hand exists, and only dire emergency should be allowed to interfere. This facilitates Flow.

BOOKS: “Wild Thing” by Mike Fairclough

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Wild Thing: Embracing Childhood Traits in Adulthood for a Happier, More Carefree LifeWild Thing: Embracing Childhood Traits in Adulthood for a Happier, More Carefree Life by Mike Fairclough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Hay House

This short self-help guide aims to encourage adults to recapture some of the bliss-inducing traits of children. Over six chapters, it examines the virtues of play, rule-breaking behavior, imagination, resilience, gratitude, flow, daydreaming, discovery, exploration, and awe.

Each chapter, in true self-help fashion, ends with a bulleted set of practical tips and practices. The book has an Introduction and Afterward, but no other ancillary material.

I felt the book was at its strongest when the author was discussing his personal experiences. Otherwise, the book can dip into the “no-duh” plight common among self-help style books — where it seems to state the obvious without adding depth of insight.

I enjoyed reading this book. It’s a nice, short pep-talk — though it’s unlikely to leave readers with any burning revelations or new insights.

View all my reviews

Music Mind [Free Verse]

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a meandering melody
  hijacked my bliss track 
 and, as I drifted in the void,
  my spine straightened,
  my breath slowed,
  and I tumbled -- for a time --
     through eternity.

PROMPT: Fun… Exercise

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the most fun way to exercise?
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In the Flow.

Wen Fu 4: “Ekstasis” [文赋四] by Lu Ji [陆机]

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It's all the amusing matters
   That sages admire without bounds.
 Writers find their way through the void --
   Knock on silence to find its sound.
 Silk scroll messages from afar,
   The bard's words surge forth from the heart.
 Words and ash grow to overflow --
   Thoughts transcend depths to become art.
 Flowery fragrance pungently sprawls;
   Plants shoot forth verdant greenery.
 The brush winds swirl to whirlwinds
   Clouds climb above the academy.

Note: I previously posted other translators’ (Barnstone and Chou) version of this poem as The Joy of Words @ https://berniegourley.com/2024/12/31/the-joy-of-words-by-lu-ji-w-audio/

Original poem in Simplified Chinese:

伊兹事之可乐，固圣贤之所钦。
课虚无以责有，叩寂寞而求音。
函绵邈于尺素，吐滂沛乎寸心。
言恢之而弥广，思按之而逾深。
播芳蕤之馥馥，发青条之森森。
粲风飞而猋竖，郁云起乎翰林。

Be Water [Free Verse]

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The floating feather
   that eludes my grasp
      isn't haughty or gleeful.

It just rolls, slips, glides,
   and is gone.

The Dance [Free Verse]

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What force dances one 
   into this lovely state?

Light & ecstatic,
 Blissful but calm.

Each breath a drug
   that sends delicate
   shimmers rippling 
   through the universe.

What force, indeed?

Beyond Eye & Mind [Kyōka]

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a bare tree,
 beside the stream,
  sent leaves to the sea:
 how far did they get?
 "beyond eye & mind."

To the Sea [Haiku]

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a leaf speeds over
 the falls; is trapped below,... 
  bobs to the surface.