The expression to Get your Mojo back means to regain your confidence, energy or enthusiasm. It is a quality that attracts people to you and makes you successful and full of energy.
I recently felt this at an event I shared with two other poets. Each of us had an opportunity to shine. It was a dream come true. Having recently just published the second edition of my book, Life’s a Mango – A Guide to Awakening through Mindful Rhyming Wisdom, I obviously considered a traditional book launch.
Somehow, this thought of a book launch lacked appeal. I didn’t want it to be all about me – at least not in that way. What I longed for was more of an event where I could showcase my own style of poetry as well as those of others who were also published poets. I started to build up a picture of what I wanted the event to look like and, right on cue, the universe supplied me with everything I needed – a great brand name, a suitable venue, food, a booking system, poets to join forces with, an MC and guests. As a Buddhist, I guess you could say that I had created the causes and conditions for everything that I dreamed of to come together. This reality filled me with unbelievable joy. I was able to shine and so were others.
I shared this dream, my vision, with friend and fellow poet-author, Tom Stodulka. I told him that I wanted the event to feel like I felt when I used to take my family to a food court. Each family member would choose exactly the type of food they loved. We all sat at the same table in the food court – content with each other’s company and content with the separate food choices we had made. That, I told Tom, was the kind of feeling I wanted to replicate at our Poets with Passion Event. I wanted all the guests to have a taste of different styles of poetry and manners of delivering that poetry. I wanted each of us poets to hold the stage for around 20 minutes and to do exactly as we wanted - in our own fashion. I wanted each of us to shine!
And shine we certainly did. We each radiated out like a warm sun. We got our mojo. Each of us was ripe and ready to deliver to our friends in the audience our own take on themes like hope, compassion, kindness, resilience and joy. But each of us went beyond poetry. We incorporated other things into our presentations that made them unique, interesting and inspirational. Things like lessons learned from psychologists, music, songs and quotes from others with whom we resonated.
This is what I shared with the audience during my precious 20 minutes:
I recently attended an educators’ professional development day. During this day there was a session with a speaker who shared something very special and useful which I then shared with all the guests at the Poets with Passion Event. You too may like to share this with friends and/or family.
Firstly, you ask the person you are speaking with to jot down five things that bring them joy. This can be anything - like drinking coffee, catching up with friends, taking a warm bath, spending time in the garden or going for a walk in nature. Whatever it is, it must be something that you love doing.
Once the person has jotted down those five things, you then share with them that there is a psychologist who says that we all need to be a PHYSICAL MESS! This is sure to get their attention. A physical mess? Who wants to be that? Well, this is what that looks like:
PHYSICAL
MENTAL
EMOTIONAL
SOCIAL
SPIRITUAL
The speaker explained that ideally, in our list of 5 things that bring us joy, there should be a balance of the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual. If there is not a balance in our list of self-care, then we may be in for troubled times. Say for example all the five things you jot down are to do with physical exercise like going to the gym, jogging, doing yoga and swimming. Then if you suddenly have an accident and can’t do most of those activities any more, you may be in for some very unhappy times.
The speaker then went on to explain that there are signs that we can see in ourselves and others well before we or they exhibit Burnout. When a person suffers from fatigue, this is often a sign that they are neglecting their list of self-care. After fatigue, comes the inevitable burn-out. It’s a process where one thing leads to another.
The experts say that if we can be mindful of what fills our happiness bucket - every day - and make sure that we attend to it, to care for ourselves, then we are less likely to become discontent with life.
When I shared this with the audience - who thought they had come along just to hear poetry, it filled me with joy because I was giving them a gift. I was giving them something they could take away, like the messages in my poems, and use daily to live a better life. I gave them a gift of wisdom that I myself thought was useful for me and worthy or sharing.
The expression to Get your Mojo back means to regain your confidence, energy or enthusiasm. It is a quality that attracts people to you and makes you successful and full of energy.
So, if you want to get your mojo back, make sure you do what you love every day. You may not get to do all five things, but make sure that you are doing at least some of them so that you radiate out like a joyful warm sun.
Love,
Jen x