The Creativity Café—A Letter Stack

gathering flowers & intentions

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On Tuesday night, The Creativity Café met for the first time. We were a group of poets and writers and artists and readers. To represent each person who came to the café, leader Bethany Rohde placed a flower into a vase (we got to pick which color we'd like!); Bethany's daughter later photographed our lively "gathering of flowers.”

After Bethany wrote the thank you note below, Dheepa Maturi commented, “Bethany, I loved being part of The Creativity Café. It was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it: a safe, warm, welcoming space, and the power of intention all around me! Thank you so much for bringing us together. (And the tulip photo is gorgeous!)”

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Bethany’s Thank You Note…

I’m still smiling about our recent gathering at The Creativity Café. Thanks to all of you who were able to spend the hour together!

We had folks from Washington, Texas, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York—and I loved seeing all the dear faces and hearing about the nourishing work or play each person wanted to delve into for the evening. People sketched, glued, wrote, read, and savored chocolate.

Between coffee sips and shortbread nibbles, I shared how Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, has encouraged my creativity in recent years. In it, she writes, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels—that’s creative living.”

And I feel that the journey is both gentler and more luminous when I get to circle back with my creative friends and share our discoveries. I can’t tell you how uplifting it was for me to work on my poems surrounded by others with a similar intention: to create and rest in each other’s kind presence.

I’m looking forward to our next café where we can encourage each other and welcome newcomers around the table! If this sounds like something you’d like to try, we would love to see you there on the second Tuesday of the month— January 14th, at 7 pm EST.

In the meantime, may your mugs be full of your favorite cozy drink as you alternate between your rest and your craft.

Warmly,

Bethany Rohde
The Creativity Café

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A Note to Bethany from L.L. Barkat

Dear Bethany,

I am so glad you came to me with this idea—and that we tried it out on Tuesday night. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Most of my experiences on Zoom have not been like this one. I remember saying to the group, at the end of the café, when you asked if anyone wanted to share…

"I feel so Zen.”

By which I meant, I felt so entirely in a state of flow and relaxation that I was completely at peace. And that feeling stayed with me for days afterward. In fact, if I picture the café gathering now, I can still access the feeling. How simply powerful it was—and is.

When Dheepa commented that she had experienced the power of intention all around her (as you hoped we would), my heart seconded that. This is important, more than you may know.

It occurred to me this (hard) year that we each have our attention and our intentions. These are precious. So precious, in fact, that many forces seek to disrupt, distract, and ultimately destroy this fundamental gift we hold: the will to protect and cultivate our attention and intentions—to build our creative lives towards the sharing of beauty, generosity, insight, and kindness, and not get depleted by platforms or powers that are effectively what Julia Cameron has termed “crazy makers” (in her book The Artist’s Way).

My experience of The Creativity Café felt like the polar opposite of what crazy-makers make me feel. And it opened a space in my heart where I could sense creativity coming alive in a new way. I’m really grateful for this. I cannot wait for our next gathering in January. How surprising. And wonderful. Thank you, dear friend. You are truly “gathering flowers.” I hope you know what a profound gift that is.

Love,

L.L. Barkat
T. S. Poetry Press

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Photo by C. Rohde, used with permission.