Curated randomness
zuihitsu
Meet the latest muse: curated randomness.
Maybe another way of saying — life? These random events occur year after year, timestamped as important or unimportant, identity crisis vs. soul expansion, something gets finished but something else is now unfinished.
And then I met the zuihitsu, last week.
A Japanese genre of poetry with the intention to create poetry that resembles fragmented ideas. Not a personal essay and also not a poem but derived from our everyday surroundings. Described more precisely by zuihitsu author, Kimoko Hanh:
“... a kind of randomness that is not really random, but a FEELING of randomness. I’ll go through and I’ll make sure it looks not only random but unfinished.” — Kimiko Hahn, BOMB Magazine Interview
As I chopped my radishes for lunch, Airpods in my ears, I listened to poet-author Eugenia Leigh describe all this — it made my heart sing in praise.
A validation of the writing style I sometimes intuitively do.
A type of permission that shit doesn’t have to be perfect. Write the social media post, the blog, the email, the book! Just click send! Include a typo for the sake of randomness. You can watch the replay of the workshop here.
This month's muse reminds us once again that Nothing Progresses Linearly.
Everything is random. There isn’t really a beginning, middle, or end to everyday life.
But yet we try to take this on in our healing journey. The mental health work we do with our therapists. In our relationships. And so forth. But the zuihitsu (pronounced zoo-e-hit-su) has a deep resistance to this and actually resists chronology.
Even as we age and get older, perhaps age is the only incremental increase, but it’s a constant play of backward and forward.
Of dancing side to side for so long that you’re not sure if you are more forward or more back. And old age often resembles childlike more than anything else.
As I contemplated all these things, it reminds me of the yoga of dejection or visāda-yoga (there is a yoga teaching for everything, truly).
Essentially there will be (multiple) points in which we experience discouragement, gripped with fear, and/or our illusionary-self takes precedents and what may feel like “not progressing forward.” A moment that feels like the end.
The teaching has much more depth which I won’t go into but my interpretation for today is that these are the moments where we create art, where life is art or like a zuihitsu, CURATE RANDOMNESS at this moment.
To end here I’ll play with the zuithitsu, leaving you with my grocery list I wrote the other day. Perhaps not curated random just yet, but it’s a start! Lists are actually a type of text in zuihitsu too.
I hope you have fun seeing mundane life as art :)
•Pickles •Salmon •Bananas •Chickpeas •Dates •Ground turkey •Eggs •Garlic •Whole milk •Cod fish •Brussels •Asparagus •Zucchini •Mixed green •Sweet potatoes •Taco seasoning
I want to acknowledge that I’ve mentioned the zuihitsu several times. I am not Japanese or Asian and I am just learning about this genre as a beginner. I am truly inspired by this style of work and I want to honor where it came from and the heritage that created it. Thank you
In this month’s Contentment Corner, you’ll find:
△ Rituals
△ Free virtual class: Coming Back Home to Your Mind
△ 23-Day Challenge: Arrive to Your Vision
△ Prevent Marketing Burnout: The Importance of Clear Content Planning for Long-Term Succes
Talk soon,
P.S As a celebration of April being National Poetry Month, I’m offering 20% off Substack subscriptions. If that resonates with you, as an exchange, if you do subscribe this month, you’ll receive:
$150 credit to this year's Summer Retreat: Belonging & Healing Retreat (yoga, somatics, meditation, & more June 16-23).
Early access and discount to 2024 summer's international retreat (I know early but more to come!)
Included in this month’s 23-Day Challenge: Arrive to Your Vision (details below).
» » thecontentmentcorner.substack.com/poetrymonth Thank you for reading and being here!
𑁍 Yogic Numerology. Enter your birthday
𑁍 Cold Showers. Start with one leg.
For Your Mind
We started this 3-part series this month and continuing next month with practices for the mind on May 8th. It’s free and you can RSVP here!
For this class, we’ll explore:
∞ Cross-body somatic practice
∞ Breathwork
∞ Analyze the 4 Parts of Your Mind with Storytelling
∞ Third-eye detox meditation
For Your Soul
“We are so busy trying to survive and adjust to the ever-changing physical body that we rarely have the opportunity to reflect on why we are doing all of this. As a result of attachment to this physical self and all things related to the material world, we lose our visions.” — Babaji
What is your vision? I’ll share a bit of mine in the comments and/or as a Note [hint: part of it is poetry :)].
Perhaps you’re at a new phase of your life. Things are shifting internally and externally. And well, as one of my teachers says above, “We are so busy trying to survive and adjust…we lose our visions.”
This is a bit more of an informal challenge, where we’re not necessarily going to meet together every day but there will be opportunities to gather. And with my support, you’ll be guided to Arrive to Your Vision for 20 mins, 23 days straight.
We start on April 25th, optional sliding scale of $5-$30 but not required. More details and how it will all unfold for 23 days can be found here. Questions? You can always hit reply. See you there!
For mindful marketing
It seems like all our platforms now require us to feed it content and if we don’t, we run the risk of our businesses not being relevant. FOMO. Or throwing money at ads with the hope to get more eyes on your business but with no real return.
But this insatiable hunger for content can lead to stress, exhaustion, and even a decrease in creating content. Additionally, the constant ping to consume content sends us a reminder that we need to create more content and we must be behind everyone else!
△ I created this guide with simple tips on how to prevent content burnout and the steps to Creating a Clear 90-Day Strategy △