Ideas for workshops/inspired ideas...

In a recent 'wellbeing day' in CTA, we wrote Haikus. I like the concept of these, 5-7-5, as it teaches you to be concise (which I find very difficult!!) whilst incorporating poetic moments of insight and beauty. I think this may be a lovely thing to practice for myself to put my reflections into concise pieces of poetry, and also perhaps introduce into workshops...perhaps about nature or things grown, for example, in Friends of Ponty.

My written Haiku on Tuesday was a reflection on my travels in my car on a sunny day:

Bouncing off windows

Rays warm cheeks and fill eyeballs

In the sapphire car

I want to replicate Mary-Clare's homemade rain instrument using nails and buck wheat husks in a cardboard tube wrapped with tape...may be great for workshops and exploring sound, objects and nature...perhaps can experiment with different seeds sewed.

I have also started playing my guitar again, enjoying how I become lost and transported when playing. This feeling of peace and immersion I want to explore and create in pieces I make with sound.

I was eating fortune cookies on Chinese New Year this year and was taken back to watching the film 'Fremont' in my explorations of place and belonging. In this film, the lead writes fortune cookie fortunes in a small factory in Fremont, and ends up writing a hidden message. Her therapist in the film sets a task where he invites her to write short lines in fortune cookie message styles as a way of reflecting and creating affirmations. I love this idea for a workshop, and it ties nicely into the conciseness of a Haiku...I see words formulating a role in my inspiration.

Some symbolism that inspired me in my visit to Friends of Ponty yesterday was the care taken when gardening, when sewing seeds and planting new life, is the careful consideration of the right conditions needed for the growth and flourishing of the plants. Perhaps this is an area I can explore further, looking at the care of nature and the care of ourselves, and how they work both ways...gardening been a true example of our need for nature and how we must not destroy it.