A few months ago I took a poetry therapy workshop where we did a number of exercises based on various poems. We read the following excerpt from “In Blackwater Woods,” by Mary Oliver: “…To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your …
Sometimes you have the itch to write to get something – niggling thoughts, nervous energy – out of your system. Here is a bank of topics for when you’re casting about for something fresh to write about. (Apparently I wrote this list about three years ago and haven’t read it since, and now I’m itching to work my way through …
If you go to an art museum this Chol Hamoed, here is an article to read before you go. (I am a fan of art museum therapy as a thing.) You can buy one or two postcards at the gift shop and save them for after Y”T when you can journal, and write about them. Ekphrastic writing is writing …
After writing this bucket list post, I continued to give a lot of thought to what I want out of life. I realized I can attain almost every item on the list on my own (with a lot of work and maybe some out-of-the-box thinking). I reflected that as much as I want to be married, I can’t control that …
In Meeting Your Half-Orange, Amy Spencer talks about visualizing different scenes from your future life with your husband as part of the fourth step of the half-orange process. I’m visualizing the Chanukah party I’m going to host (next year) with my husband. I’m adding details, from our work schedules that night to the menu, paper goods and activities. I’m frying …
I love seeing menorahs in other people’s windows. It is such a happy sight and it makes me feel warm and cozy. And it reminds me not of the Chanukah miracle exactly, but of a generalized sense of peace and gratitude for the good things in life. In keeping with the idea that Chanukah is about not only open …
This week my roommate helped me prepare for a job interview. We discussed what I would say when the interviewer would inevitably ask why I left Career #1. I hemmed and hawed, not sure how my answers sounded, when my roommate said, “You could just tell them you didn’t like it so you switched to something you enjoy.” This …
A few weeks ago I wrote about my Creative Arts class in graduate school and how it reintroduced me to poetry therapy. Here are a few more poems to read, play with, and respond to in addition to the ones I shared there. I’d love to discover more gems if you can share in the comments! “For a New …
Yay, I’m done with that Creative Arts course! It would have been so fun without all the papers. But I did take away a few helpful things and one of them is that I really love poetry therapy. I know, shocker. Poetry therapy, according to the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy, is the use of “the written, spoken, and auditory …
In February I read a fun and different book, Love Will Find You, by Kathryn Alice. The book went through a number of steps and exercises for helping you surmount old obstacles and negativity about dating, become open to accepting love, and attract the right person into your life. I don’t need to tell you that I see this kind of …
