It’s bittersweetness was revealed to me
On many occasions.
I often wondered how it didn’t destroy me
Or leave me broken beyond repair.
I did feel useless often,
Like a distant memory, you tried to forget.
But I never forgot you
Or the pain of betrayal. Continue reading Breathe Deep, My Love
Having a muse is kinda the bomb. You have this figure that ignites creativity in you. This person can also be seen as a trigger. Alas, that’s where I am. I don’t know if I like living like this. I can, however, attest that this fucking feeling has taken me across the country. I think that’s the biggest change in my life. Confidence. I started focusing on myself. I had spent years trying to help others. Grant it, some people don’t want help. Forcing it on them actually causes them to “hate” you. You are trying to do something for another person, but it is seen as controlling? Sigh. Continue reading 35,000 Choices Revisited
The fatigue of complex emotions can leave you creatively exhausted. How many hills must you climb? How many sleepless nights must you endure? Where does creativity come from? It is so difficult to piece together, where everything starts and ends. In all of that calamity, there is a beginning.
Meditation has been found to be extremely effective for many of our modern problems. Studies have shown that it can help increase your creativity. If you have ever tried meditation, you understand the benefits of how it relaxes and centers you. Seen as more of a spiritual practice in the past, it is clear that it can be extremely helpful in our day to day lives.
Creative business coach Mark McGuinness meditates for 20 minutes a day before he starts work. He focuses on his breathing while doing so. He has found that he gains focus, patience, calmness, clarity, and insight. He isn’t the only one in the business world using meditation. The likes of Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, and many other highly successful people that depend on their creativity use meditation before they start their workday. Here are 5 ways that meditation increases creativity.
Meditation and How it Works on the Brain
There are three parts to the brain that work together in order to get your creative juices flowing. The reptilian part of your brain is your oldest part. It covers breathing and automatic things. The limbic system is where your empathy and emotions can be found. Then there is the Neocortex which is the newest part. It is the most advanced part of the brain. We are capable of being aware of ourselves like no other species. This is why we can learn language, paint, play music, and write screenplays.
The limbic and Neocortex system will both activate to search for solutions. The limbic looks to past experiences to find the best solution. The Neocortex analyzes everything and is looking for a rational answer. Interesting, the limbic system comes up with answers faster even though the Neocortex would perhaps come up with a more rational answer.
1. Effects on the Neocortex
Meditation is a work in progress. It trains you to be aware of yourself and your surroundings. It trains you to be in the moment. The Neocortex is the part of the brain that controls your awareness. When you meditate, you train this part of the brain to become stronger. Meditation on a daily basis will allow you to make better choices. You can see bad habits and analyze the things you’re doing right in your life and things that don’t serve you. It is the newest part of the evolution of our brain. It is in charge of things like:
By strengthening this area of the brain, you will be better able to reach that creative aspect of yourself.
2. Managing Emotions Continue reading 5 Ways Meditation Can Increase Your Creativity
A child who grows and has difficulty making decisions, is probably a child who got that taken away from him.
I felt absolutely shook to the core. Obliterated by words that once spoke niceties…now these syllables are placated lullabies lobbed together with “um’s”. How pathetic to have thoughts of yesteryear to come forth bearing any fruit. All rotted to the core. Studded with “we are only friends”…that friendship cost you our love. Alas, you say you were miserable and you were giving me time. Time? Where was this time? Was I to assume where you stood? Speak up.
Your words would cut like a knife. Now suddenly that cat has got that tongue. What type of creature are you? Vial belittling monster masquerading as a lamb. I look over lids to peer into dark pools in which I drown. There is no lifeguard on deck. All the floating bodies serve as rafts and I am not able to swim.
@christinamariewatkins
This week I didn’t feel like painting anything new; that happens sometimes as an artist. This week was a trying week, a week in which the decision of a ring-a-round habit that needed to end. I won’t get into too much detail but its a bittersweet feeling letting go of your addiction. Right now I’m going through withdrawals (NO, not from drugs!), but from something else. Have you ever been in a SHITuation that feels so good at the moment, yet even in the moment you know it’s not good for you? Yeah, same. Continue reading Confessions of a Pendeja: The Art of Letting Go
My alone time is so precious to me. Being able to immerse myself in my solitude and actually find comfort in it is a beautiful thing, I highly suggest it. Add a little bit of tequila and good music and I end up with this doodle. Yeah, I was pretty tipsy and in the zone having a million thoughts cross my mind, but even with everything that was on my mind I was able to center myself to create. You have no idea how grateful I am to have this creative outlet.
Definitely one of my favorite solo activities, having a drink and drawing as I let go of my long day.
-ZaiOhmy
Pendeja or pendejo is a Spanish word commonly used in Puerto Rican culture that would describe an individual that does dumb shit. As of late, I’ve been such a pendeja 🤦. No, I’m not out here committing crimes, muffing babies, or running into walls. I’m going through a MAJOR transitional period in my life in which a lot of personal mistakes are happening due to growth and my previous reluctance to life’s uncomfortable lessons. I don’t know if turning 30 this year is a factor but I want to face myself and my demons. Here is my thing about this growth, I refuse to change my essence I only want to enhance it towards a positive light. What makes me who I am is why I have an ignorant laugh and why I can take a joke and throw it right back at you but I must admit some parts of my essence needs a tune-up. Shall we discuss the levels of my pendejaism? Continue reading Pendejaism: Confessions of a Pendeja
She is born with a naturally occurring third eye, nestled within the softest place on earth. If you do it right, it might just wink at you. Waiting is a cycle. Stillness is a cycle. Regeneration and resurrection? Both are cycles. She wants no parts of your war – no parts of the blood you spill. (She often twitches at the day men were allowed into labor rooms.) The blood she spills is of living water; not of slain innocence and not of combat, campaign, or crusade. Yes, pay close attention to whom God granted His living water. It’s been said that it’s just too much. Too crass, too saturated, too heavy. Too brand new. The blood. Of cyclical possibilities with a scent of untouched earth waiting to be sown (or not). Rain on the horizon. Seeds taking root. Her insides – the great outdoors. It is her space and mine. Immense pain and immense pleasure. What of true life doesn’t birth both? Charged with the permutation of unadulterated first breaths! And we let them shame…tax…shun us for it. A gift. An offering. A safe space that everyone has at least once been familiar with. And we let them shame us for it? A built in clock synced with the moon, ocean tides…with her who stands with me and for me. And we let them shame us for it? Born with everything we need. To carry life. And we let them shame us for it? Phenomenal soil – watering itself from the inside out. And we let them shame us for it? Worth bleeding for. And we let them shame us for…the blood.
All too often humans disregard
the strangeness in each other,
toss it on the highway like
a tasteless piece of gum,
useless and burdensome.
Continue reading Strange.
I struggle
But no one sees it.
I hide it away
From prying eyes
And quiet questions. Continue reading Untitled
Hey, kid–kid with the kinky thick hair. The kid with the name everyone pronounced wrong. The bubbly chubby kid who loved to sing. One kid who’d run around with her portable speaker and mic and perform like a little preacher. Kid who loved climbing the trees in the backyard. The kid with a bottomless imagination. A kid who’d daydream all day. Hey there, kid, who loved bubble baths with her mom and would sing, “You are so beautiful….to me, can’t you see?” Continue reading Hey there Kid…
It looks like love
Sweet and uncertain
Beautiful and messy.
It makes sense
At times,
But then
It becomes confusing again. Continue reading What It Looks Like
I watched other people build brick homes
and we, we built a straw hut.
Knowing full well it would never stand up
Against the angry hot winds of darkness that would erupt. Continue reading We Were The Wolves
