Moments of Mindfulness within creativity

“Poetry is not only the dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears if what has never been before”. Audre Lorde

By Izzy Lehmann, Student Worker with The WELL

Moments of mindfulness can be difficult to prioritize in our busy lives. For me, reading, writing, and creating have always been ways for me to step back from my chaotic schedule and have moments of peace to exist without pressure. Starting my day with a moment of mindfulness and gratitude has resulted in me feeling more present and connected to myself throughout the day. Upon waking up, I try to write my initial thoughts and feelings that dance around my mind upon waking up on a new day: the way the clouds shadows are showcased on the walls of my room, the feeling of my skin against my sheets, or how my cat is sleeping peacefully next to me and I wish I could trade places with him for just one day. Writing has always been an outlet for me to express my feelings and create worlds within words allowing me the option to temporarily escape from mine.

Writing is more than a routine, it is an adventure to explore my mind and the millions of worlds available to me. Expressing creativity for me has always been through means of literature: writing, reading, and collaging poetry have been my constant companions through life.

From a very young age, my voracious reading habits, evident in the shelves of my personal library, attest to my deep-rooted passion for literature. The influence that authors wield over readers, transporting them to a variety of alternate worlds, has always captivated my focus. Reading for me serves as a way to enhance my writing skills and knowledge around literature, and constantly inspires me in my own writing. Reading does wonders for our minds and writing has the power to help us overcome obstacles and organize our thoughts. Collaging poetry has been a way for myself to repurpose discarded scraps into something beautiful. I use old magazines and newspapers and meticulously cut out words and phrases that resonate with me. My favorite place to be is the Mesa Bookstore, where I spend a great amount of my time finding used books of poetry to repurpose into my own creations. I absolutely love to transform my whimsically wonderful thoughts and dreams into poetry. The ability to move and manipulate words and phrases allows me a sense of control and also a unique command over literature.

In the process of creating these two attached poems, I first started with selecting and printing photos for a background for my poems. Knowing my poems would have a focus on mindfulness, I deliberately chose images from moments and locations where my connection to mindfulness felt most profound. As for words, I chose random pages from a magazine and challenged myself to search and find words and phrases that correlated with my theme. It can be difficult to find specific words you want, but that is why it is especially important to keep an open mind and let the words guide you, instead of trying to guide the words. In my typical process, I gather phrases and individual words that resonate with me, arranging them on the page without adhering them until I'm certain of their order and flow within the poem. This method allows for flexibility and exploration until the composition feels just right.

The practice of collaging in this way is something that I recommend to those who want to give a voice to their inner thoughts, and use writing as a form of mindfulness. This process transcends repurposing materials, it shows me the beauty in the overlooked, light in darkness, and using otherwise useless materials to create something unique and new that has the power to express the unexpressed. As the brilliant Audre Lorde said, “Poetry is not only the dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears if what has never been before”.