Poetry as a portal to your next breakthrough

Poetry as a portal for your next breakthrough?

Consider some of the most quoted lines of poetry:

"And miles to go before I sleep" (Robert Frost)

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) 

[Quick side note: RUSH incorporates this poem into its song “Xanadu,” one of the most theatrical and memorable songs across their discography.]

"Candy/Is dandy/But liquor/Is quicker" (Ogden Nash) 

[Another quick side note: referenced in the wildly popular “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”]

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings" (Shakespeare)

In short — poetry offers a means of understanding the universality of human experience which in turn, can guide you on your journey through the complexities of life. 

Leading you to what's next.

Why poetry as a portal to your next breakthrough

Poetry connects us to our past, present, and future which on its own merit is transformational. 

The through-lines of our individual lives coupled with those of generations before us and those yet to come hold phenomenal power. 

(Sorry, but bullet lists on slide decks can’t even come close to what a good poem can do.)

We are thinking about and feeling things that people have been thinking about and feeling forever. 

It’s true the world looks different today. People didn’t have cell phones or Zoom meetings in Shakespeare’s days or talk endlessly about workplace burnout or the latest trends on social media. 

But they wondered about love. 

They wrestled with consequences and personal growth and accountability. 

They had to grapple with loss and health issues and raising children and where to live and work and what clothes to wear. 

The thing about poetry is it tells the truth about who we are in a way no other medium does.

Which is another reason why poetry as a portal to your next personal breakthrough holds the weight it holds.

The next time you’re looking for something to move you through a complicated situation, read a poem.

Or two.

It could be one from my latest book, The River Only Runs One Way.

“The Great Release” is a reader favorite. 

Or it could be from the collection of someone else. Like the poets listed above.

Or check out "Xanadu" by RUSH. (video below)

Allow poetry to open your heart and mind to all that is magnificent and flawed in this life. 

Let it lead you to more gratitude for all that is amazing, and to less suffering for all that isn’t.