When did you lose the natural wayThe way that was given to you at birthOf breathing peacefullyWithout the need for self-attendance? Our release from the traumaDuring this humbling pandemic,From the loneliness imposedBy spending too much time with our thoughtsAnd the distressOf keeping a safe distance from the world,Will begin by learning to breathe again Ask READ MORE
Brian Alger is a musician, writer, educator, and retired entrepreneur passionate about creativity.
Why Productivity Inhibits Creative Work
Time management is a technology designed to coordinate activities involving groups of people. Effective time management is the foundation for organizational efficiency and productivity. The genesis of productivity is the industrial age, and therefore mechanization, analysis, and systemization. The digital age has accelerated and intensified industrial age productivity. Rather than being used creatively, networked technologies READ MORE
The Space Between Words and Life
What can you possibly write, After all these years Of forgetting your own words, That matters? All the abandoned thoughts Forgotten ideas Lost potential, Exiled within Graveyards of paper And writing That died too soon. You have taken the easy path As if just writing was enough, Never questioning Your own stifling assumptions And unexamined READ MORE
Aging: A Frontier of Belonging
There was a time when I equated aging with the unwelcome process of becoming old. During my youth, becoming old was something I watched happen to my parents and older family members. I hide behind the convenient notion that aging was something that happened to other people. I didn’t feel as if it was happening READ MORE
What to Remember about Mental Health
I wrote some things to remember about mental health to confront my own anxieties about life during a pandemic. It started as a private way of giving myself a good talking to and reminding myself of what matters most in life. I believe that the cultivation of mental health begins with an honest conversation about READ MORE
The Wisdom of Control
Unexpectedly, you find yourself on the foreboding frontiers of a pandemic. The threat of being hunted by an invisible predator never leaves you alone. It is disinterested in your needs, desires, or hopes. It does not care about you, your family, or your friends. Everyone is prey, a potential host, and a vector of transmission. READ MORE
Your Own Voice
Trapped inside the frantic cacophony Of modern life, Plagued by harsh, jarring sounds Of protest, outrage, and fear, You unexpectedly discover That the absence of your own voice, The one that has yet to be heard, Is a consequence of never allowing Your vulnerabilities To speak. The acoustics of everyday lifeExhaust your sensibilities.Voices of authority, READ MORE
Aging is a Fierce Advisor
You cannot remember when you first noticed it.What was the first sign?There was a time not long agoWhen the symptoms were not apparent,And you could not humble yourselfTo the wisdom it offered. But now you feelThe intensity, awe, and humilityOf that sacred energy moving through you.After all these years,You finally sense the presence ofThe wild READ MORE
Turn Away
Sometimes you must let goOf all the usual desiresThat conspired to lead you to this placeOf contingency, false urgency, and exhaustion Nearly sixty years have passedAnd as your body begins its retreatYou are still disappointedTo find yourself on that beaten and tired pathRemaining faithful to your conditioningAnd the rigid discipline of your own inertiaNever turning READ MORE