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Life Stories and New Expectations
My life stories are writing themselves now. This isn’t an easy time and I feel grateful for what I have. A warm house. Stable income. Delicious food. Loving friends and family. Books to read. Poems to write. A lake nearby that I can walk to. The beauty of winter. Sightings of hawks and geese and crows that remind me we will be okay.
It’s natural to write life stories for ourselves about the way our days and years should go. We write stories about our careers, our relationships, and personal goals. From mapping out each chapter of where we should be and what we should be doing to deciding how our character will grow and change within a set time frame, we are master storytellers.
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Creative Life and Work Inspired by Air
Lately I’ve been inspired by air. Breath. Space. Sky. Flight. It started with John O’Donohue’s poetry last Spring. I started reading one of his poems every morning as a way to focus my attention for the day. While walking by the lake, I reflected on a line or a theme from his poetry, trying to connect to the world in the way I connected to his words.
Over the break I ordered Disney+ so I could watch ‘The Mandalorian’ and the movie ‘Soul.’ Then I started watching other things. The Maleficent movies. Hamilton again. Mulan. The element of air was prominent in each of them through storylines connected to flight, breath, inspiration, and the use of sky and space. Even the musical Hamilton has a song: Blow Us All Away.
Air is an essential metaphor and element.
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Back to School at Home Online
Before the winter break, students asked their teachers as they walked out to the buses, “will you be my teacher when I come back?” We all felt the energy in the air shifting from enthusiasm for some holiday time to the worry for how long the holiday would last.
Back to school looks different this month. We return to school at home this morning. Children across the province attend classes online instead of in-person. Teachers wake up to step into their digital classrooms. Parents wonder how they will balance working from home and supervising their children.
We return to routine, yet the routines will be different. We return to learning, yet the learning will require more diligence and perseverance. Change is rarely easy.
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Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Character Development
Going deeper into character…
What do people/characters need to feel a sense of balance and well-being? How can we use this as writers to throw character’s lives off balance and/or restore balance?
Explore
Google Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and then relate the ideas to your protagonist, finding new ways for your character to change. Maslow created a theory in psychology for what humans need, often represented in a pyramid. Physiological needs are on the bottom with basic things like food, water, sleep, breathing, sex. Moving up from the base of triangle are safety, love and belonging, and esteem to self-actualization at the triangle’s tip.
For example: What if my character loses her house, how does it affect her relationships? What if she doesn’t have problem-solving skills? How will she cope? How would the story be affected if a friend tries to support her, but she doesn’t understand friendship? What events would I need to include in the story to help her to achieve her goals?
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The River Under the Road
You can watch me read my 2021 New Year’s Day poem for the Mayor’s Levee launched in the Virtual Levee.
The River Under the Road
under the road flows a river
always moving in one direction
even when we forget it’s therethe current, like a heartbeat
presses on just the same
carrying everything
all of us homemaybe a white door
leads to a road lined
with coffees like warm luminaries
inviting friends, new and old
to join in communitymaybe a yellow window
opens to a road lined
with clocks like adored toys
welcoming family, then and now
to join in relationshipmaybe a red wall
hides a road lined
with canaries like lost choirs
carrying news, mine and yours
to join in songmaybe a black floor
covers a road lined
with candles like joyful children
shining hope, peace and love
to join in lightunder the road flows a river—
we make the road
by redefining its lines
always rebuilding our homes
along our road togetherBy Jessica Outram
Written for January 1, 2021
Mayor’s New Year’s Levee
Cobourg, ON -
New Year Revolutions, Not Resolutions
Happy New Year! This morning I woke up feeling alive and awake. Beginnings. Natural turning points on our paths. Today is open to be anything. We can connect to every possibility.
Instead of resolutions this year, I’m reflecting on revolutions. Resolutions are firm decisions to do or not do something. When you resolve something, it brings closure or provides an answer, a solution. Typically we make resolutions where we firmly decide we will be healthier or happier or more creative. We decide. We set the intention. And then we feel badly when the river of life carries us around a bend we didn’t predict and the decision we made on January 1st suddenly becomes the residue left behind on the riverbank.
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Poetry Invites January
Inspired By Our Lake
One of my favourite features of Cobourg is its proximity to Lake Ontario. It shines in every season. Whether I am walking along the beach or visiting a friend near Monk’s Cove or walking the trail near my place, the lake always captures my attention.
This month I invite you to bundle up in your warmest gear or park somewhere with a view and spend some time with the lake. What do you notice? How does the light look? In what ways does the water move? Where does the ice gather? Do you see any wildlife? What is your memory of this place in other seasons?
How could you capture the spirit of Lake Ontario in a poem?
Or maybe the history of the buildings and life along the lake interests you. Click here to read some Cobourg history. Or maybe you want to explore some of the social justice issues the lake inspires. Begin with the lake and see where it leads you.
Read more about the Poetry Invites Project and about how to submit a poem to our eChapbook.
