David Richo is a therapist who leads popular workshops on personal and spiritual growth. He is the author of many books including How to Be an Adult in Relationships and The Five Things We Cannot Change. In this fascinating paperback, he salutes writing and reading poetry as a spiritual practice that leads to personal growth, wisdom, and wholeness. Traveling on this path, he says, is less about the intellect and more about mindfulness and imagination. Richo believes that everyone can tap into the inner poet and that this art form is not the preserve of only a few aesthetic and talented people. Throughout the book, he gives exercises, visualizations, and spiritual practices to serve as a spur to writing and reading poetry.
In a chapter entitled "Writing the Poems Inside You," the author shares the following guidelines:
1. Write It Any Old Way
2. Be Open to Inspiration
3. Maintain the Economy of Words
4. Consider Words, Lines and Forms
5. Be Very Personal But Not Too Subjective
Other themes covered in Being True to Life include becoming a fair and alert observer, working with images, using poetry to heal the past, learning to let go, facing life's emotional challenges, poetry and nature, stillness and movement. Richo's comments on reading poetry are well worth savoring, especially a piece responding to the question of why poems are so hard to understand, messages in poetry, and using lectio divina as a tool for insight.
