Valentine's Poetry Twitter Competition

A Valentine's Message

A Valentine's Message

Valentine’s Fun & Romance on Twitter

Hallmark Cards are running a great competition, of which I’m really delighted to be a judge,  where you can win a £500 holiday – simply by composing a 140 character Valentine’s message your verse can be any style you like – funny,witty,  romantic, serious, light-hearted….whatever best captures the thoughts and sentiments you want to express to your Valentine. You can find out more here:  Hallmark

Get your entry in by January 29th for a chance to win a £500 holiday for two in a romantic cottage…..

Shortly, I’ll be posting some tips on writing poetry to help you be inspired.

New ReSource hot off the press


It’s been a busy few weeks getting this edition of ReSource off to print, and there are some really great interviews and articles which I’ve really enjoyed preparing.

I also relished designing the fresh summer cover –

ReSource Edition 17

ReSource Edition 17

Some snippets

‘Generation Y’ has featured  strongly, it wasn’t an intentional thing, simply that it was topical amongst the people I was speaking to.

Generalisation about any group is not ideal, and can be dangerous, and we acknowlede that there are always exceptions, yet Don Tapscott, Marshall Goldsmith, Kate Sweetman and Marcus Buckingham are all talking about the differences between this group of 16 – 31 year olds and the ‘boomers’ – the message is that they are flexible, value-driven and aren’t impressed by materialism in the way previous generations have been – they won’t compromise their ideals.

Kate Sweetman talks about the fact that Gen Y ‘s values, needs and wants are very similar to those that women have traditionally upheld –

“I predict that companies that can solve the C-level gender gap will also win the Talent war for the best and the brightest in Gen Y.  What women have always wanted and what Gen Y demands are virtually the same things.”

Don Tapscott advocates listening to young people and acting on their input. He says of the Net Generation:

“they are the first ever global generation, and they are defined by these eight norms. If you are designing a company, a brand, a marketing programme, or a government, it doesn’t matter what it is, these eight norms need to be at the centre of it.”

Marcus Buckingham (in London next week – check out his June 10 event here – ReSource will be there as a media partner) noted:

“All the research that I have seen shows that Gen Y is a ‘volunteerist’ generation, and an optimistic generation, but they are clueless about what it takes to perform”

Marshall Goldmsith has some great advice:

“For young people, my advice is that the world you are growing up in is a much more competitive world than the world I grew up in. Make sure you love what you do, or you are going to be living in what I call ‘New Age Professional Hell’“.

These are just a selection from the host of valuable, great articles covering a range of topics from business leadership and personal success to spirituality and well-being – check out www.resourcemagazine.co.uk and subscribe so you don’t miss out on a truly great ReSource!


Video – Life Blessings for You

Come and meditate and relax for a while….

 

Nourishment for Your Soul

words, pictures and music

to inspire, soothe and delight

 

 

Do you value what's right under your nose?

The Present

Right now, we’re very much heads down getting ReSource ready for press, so I’m deeply engrossed in putting all the personal and business development articles together, honing  with images and fine tuning.

Like most people, that can mean I don’t take time to look up from the screen and take in what’s around me to see what’s happening (following on from yesterday’s post, even what’s changing,  evolving or transforming…!) We can tend to take things (and people) for granted, and not notice how much they contribute to making our lives a more joyful, beautiful or easy place to be.

Last week the view from my study window was filled with green, albeit there were clusters of tight buds on the rhododendron bush which is now so large it fills the foreground. This week with the sunshine it’s burst into full flower, transformed, even,  and because I know it will be relatively short-lived, I made a point of going out and taking some photos to capture what’s right under my nose that’s giving me such a lovely outlook.

My thinking was that it might rain, that it was windy, and the flowers might therefore get battered and bruised more quickly, and I’d miss the moments of pristine beauty. So it was ‘carpe diem’ and off I went, results shared below.

Brilliant May flowers....

Brilliant May flowers....

a stunning backdrop

a stunning backdrop

Take just a minute to look around you, to think and consider  –
what’s or who’s under your nose that you’re not fully appreciating.

What can you capture from today as it is, in this moment,
and express your gratitude for the present of the present?

Enjoying Rapture

With  Scottish poet  Carol Ann Duffy appointed the first female Poet Laureate, it’s a step forward for beautiful, accessible, understandable poetry that appeals to a wide audience.  That doesn’t mean Duffy’s poems are not exquisite, well constructed, masterly – simply that they are identifiable as expressions of universal experiences.


Duffy wrote poems from a very early age, and attributes some of her success to the support she had from her mother who was herself a compelling storyteller, and teachers who encouraged her work to the point of typing up her early poems and posting them on the classroom wall.

One test of whether a poem ‘worked’ was if her mother could understand it – if she had to ask for explanations, Duffy knew more clarity was required; she also puts the obscurity of so much poetry down to the fact that in many cases it was important that the poet’s wife couldn’t understand what was being said!


Duffy has won many prizes for her poetry, and her most recent collection, ‘Rapture’, which charts a love affair in the life she describes as ‘complicated’ , carried off the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2005 .

I believe that her prize to our world will be to make poetry more accessible in schools, (her work is already on the GCSE syllabus) and in general. In many ways, like art and music, poetic writing is the closest we can get to expressing the essence of the soul, and it’s a therapeutic way of bringing our deepest thoughts and feelings forward into consciousness.

The power of poetic expression is undeniable, and universal, witnessed by the longevity and pervasive influence of such writing, ranging through many styles from for example Rumi, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Eliot to Betjeman, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Adrian Henri… (I could go on…and on)  and the disciplined minimalism of Haiku.

Here’s a snippet from Carol Ann Duffy’s Rapture, a poem called ‘You’.

“Falling in love

is glamorous hell; the crouched, parched heart

like a tiger ready to kill; a flame’s fierce licks under the skin.

Into my life, larger than life, beautiful, you strolled in.”

Rapture, Carol Ann Duffy, 2005, Picador

You can buy the book here

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