Living In The Present Moment

In this session we discuss the different ways a poem may wish to be expressed, reworking the poem ‘This Moment Is Mine’ into different forms. We discuss the overarching goal of this course, emphasizing the goal of attaining peace. This session ends with a practice you can take beyond this course that will help you attain peace through poetry every day. This track is taken from my course, ‘Finding Peace Through Poetry’, available now via my profile.

Transcript

This moment is fleeting,

I refuse to let the past contain it.

This moment is mine,

I refuse to let the past consume it.

This moment is bright,

I refuse to let the past obscure it.

This moment is pure,

I refuse to let the past taint it.

This moment is free,

I refuse to let the past restrain it.

So this is the final session of the course,

And I want to reiterate what I've been saying throughout the duration of this course.

It's not a course that is going to teach you how to write quote unquote good poetry.

I'm not aiming to teach you the ins and outs of writing evocative poetry,

Or how to move a reader,

Or how to write something of a publishable standard.

That's not the goal.

The goal of this course is solely in the title,

To find peace through poetry.

And the way we find peace through poetry is to do what we've been talking about in this course.

To write,

And to write with the purpose,

With the overarching goal,

With the mental state,

With the looking for peace.

So as always,

If during this session,

Or any of the sessions,

You find yourself wanting or compelled to write,

Do so.

And if you find peace arriving,

Either during the writing process,

Or during the course,

Well,

You're there.

Now,

The reason I started this session with the poem,

This Moment Is Mine,

Is because sometimes we can write to ourselves as a memory,

As a reminder,

As an instruction.

So this poem,

This Moment Is Mine,

This idea came to me when I was not in the moment,

When I was out of my mind,

So to speak,

When I was so stuck in the ruminations and triggers and issues of the past,

That I lost the present moment.

I lost my son smiling.

I lost the beauty of nature.

I lost the joy of whatever was going on.

And I realized that that was happening again,

And again,

And again.

So I thought it would be poignant to write something to myself,

Highlighting both what is arriving,

Or is what is happening,

And a way to counteract that.

So that's why I went with these words.

This moment is fleeting.

This moment is mine.

This moment is pure.

This moment is free.

With the refrain of,

I refuse,

I refuse to let the past contain it,

The past consume it,

The past obscure it,

The past taint it,

The past restrain it.

Now,

Yes,

You could look at this poem and say,

Well,

It's just a bunch of statements,

One after the other about something.

I'm sort of drilling down upon this because,

You know,

In the earlier sessions,

We talked about the internal editor,

The voice inside that critiques it.

But that internal editor can critique you based on a desire to protect you from the embarrassment of other people reading your work,

But also from yourself.

It sort of relates to the question of who are you when no one is looking?

Who is the person in the mirror?

Because you'll find yourself writing something,

But then not wanting to commit to paper,

Not wanting to put it down because future you will judge past you for writing something that is so trite,

Or so silly,

Or so on the nose,

Or so insert any judgment here.

But that's not the point.

And if that voice pops up,

You acknowledge it,

And you ask it to come back at a later stage.

Which is why I'm sort of talking about this poem,

Because that voice itself will pull you out of the moment.

That voice will stop you from being here and now and writing.

So this poem,

This moment is fleeting.

I refuse to let the past contain it.

I chose to do it in that way because,

Or the poetic nature of the poem is such that I started each line with this moment,

And then I had,

You know,

This moment is,

And I named it.

Then the second line was I refuse.

I refuse to let the past do something.

So it's a set of similar statements all repeating one after the other.

That's the structure.

That's the way I chose to formulate my thoughts.

But I could have easily chosen to formulate my thoughts here in any number of ways.

This could be a haiku,

A 5-7-5 statement.

For example,

This moment is all.

I refuse to ignore it.

I will remember.

This moment is all.

I refuse to ignore it.

I will remember.

Or I could have chosen to do it as an ABAB rhyme structure.

For example,

It is now and I am here.

I refuse to forget it due to fear.

It is now and I am here.

I refuse to forget it due to fear.

Now,

Obviously or not,

Maybe,

I feel that those two different variations aren't quite hitting the point that I was trying to make.

True,

I have just sort of thrown them together for the point of this course,

But I guess what I'm saying here is that the poem that is there will come,

And it will come in a way that is unique to it.

For whatever reason,

This poem,

This moment is mine,

Decided to come in the form that it came in.

This moment is fleeting.

I refuse to let the past contain it.

This moment is mine.

I refuse to let the past consume it.

This moment is bright.

I refuse to let the past obscure it.

This moment is pure.

I refuse to let the past taint it.

This moment is free,

And I refuse to let the past restrain it.

That's how the poem felt best to be expressed,

And it would have been a shame to let any internal editor,

Internal voice doubt,

Restrict that,

Because the act of writing it in the way that it chose to come,

Or that I chose to present it,

Brought me the most peace,

And I think it is the best expression of this point.

But if you have the idea in your head that all poems,

For example,

Need to be a haiku,

Then you might be restricting yourself based on what you could be presenting,

Or if every poem needs to rhyme in an ABAB structure,

Then you're sort of limiting what will come.

But also,

Conversely,

If those are the ways that you choose to express and present your poetry,

Or that's how they're coming,

Then it's also valid and fine,

And you should explore that.

So the reason that I shared,

Or sort of rewrote this point just briefly here,

As a haiku,

And as an ABAB rhyming poem,

Is to highlight that you can express the similar points with different styles,

But it's not necessarily ideal for you,

In this moment,

Writing the poetry that will come.

So the overarching point that I'm trying to drive home with this course,

But with this session in general,

Is when you sit,

And we'll get into this,

I'll give you a practice to sort of take into the rest of your life beyond this course,

But basically when you sit with the goal of finding peace through poetry,

Allow the words to come as they come.

That is the best way to find peace through poetry,

Be it free form,

Be it mono-rhyme,

Be it haiku,

ABAB,

Be it a statement,

Be it free flow of writing therapy,

However the poem decides to come,

Let it come.

You can always choose to edit it later,

Refine it down,

You can do any of those things,

But the best way is to just express and not judge what is or is not poetry.

Poetry is words upon a page.

So with all of that said,

I want to leave you with a practice that you can take into your day.

You could do this practice as a morning meditation,

So to speak,

Sort of a morning spiritual practice,

Or it could be done when you feel the need to write and express and obtain peace,

Or when you are called to do so.

All you do is this,

You get your pen and your pad,

And I encourage you to do this now,

And you take a seat or you lie down and you get yourself comfortable.

Close down the eyes if you wish,

And take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Just add a little bit of sigh to that out breath.

Just repeating that slow deep sighing breath,

You just settle into the session.

And what you do as you're doing those sighing breaths,

Just draw your attention to your internal state,

Your mind,

Your body,

Your spirit,

Your ability to access the center of the self.

You're just feeling what you're feeling in your body,

Hearing any sounds that can arise,

Noticing any thoughts and mental phenomena popping up,

Just not grasping onto it,

Just observing what's coming.

And into that space you're going to set the intention.

I am going to find peace through poetry,

Or I intend to write a poem that will bring me peace,

Or I will sit and listen to what you,

My body,

My mind,

My spirit,

God,

Whatever place you want to ask for guidance.

I'm going to sit and listen,

And I'm going to write the poem you wish to share.

Guide me,

Lead my hand,

I am your vessel and I will write.

That's the intentionality that we're going to sit with.

And for the next minute,

You're just going to allow any thoughts to flow upon the page.

So when you're ready,

I invite you to sit and just allow whatever comes to come upon the page.

No judgment,

No filter,

No restriction,

Just free writing.

If it comes in rhyme,

If it comes in terms of statements,

Or directions,

Or a haiku,

Or however it arises,

You commit to just accepting that.

If the words seem poignant,

Or powerful,

Or embarrassing,

Or overwhelming,

Or intense,

You're still committing to just writing them down,

And you can review and edit them later,

If you so choose.

So with all of that,

We're going to let the audio go silent for a minute,

But if you find yourself needing some more time,

Please pause and continue for as long as you like.

Okay,

So as always,

If you feel like you need more time,

Continue writing until you've obtained a poem,

Or ideally peace.

And that is the entirety of the purpose of this course,

Is to get you writing,

Is to get you out of your own way,

To help you channel your thoughts upon the page,

To help you obtain peace.

We've covered a variety of different ideas and concepts in this course,

All geared towards helping you check into your mind,

Check into your body,

Check into your spirit,

Into your shadow,

Into your soul,

And get you expressing.

And I encourage you to return back to this course at any time,

And repeat it if you feel like that would help,

And to engage in the classroom if you want to share what you've written today,

Or if something arises at a later stage,

I would encourage you to put it into the classroom if you feel comfortable.

I'll be there daily to connect,

And to respond,

And to answer any questions that may arise.

It's been a pleasure having you in this course,

And I encourage you,

Take a breath,

Sit with a pen and paper,

And find some peace through poetry.

Thank you.

This track was taken from the course,

Finding Peace Through Poetry.

It's out now,

And available via my profile on InsightTimer.

I encourage you to click through and check it out.