Full Title: From Passionate Process to Poetic and Playful Puzzle – Part I: The Art of Reviving and Writing "The Reorg Rag"™
by Mark Gorkin, LICSW
As I open this essay, please forgive an immodest turn. Upon reading or hearing one of my edgy or catchy phrasings, for example, the title of my book, Practice Safe Stress, or a motivational mantra, such as, "Do know your limits and don't limit your 'No's," I often receive some verbal or nonverbal sign of appreciation. This may then be followed by, "How did you come up with that?" or "Is that just how your mind works?" In my estimation, imaginative phrases, concepts or creative pieces are less the product of spontaneous combustion and more a journey-like process of swirling cogitation and personal passion within some informational or cultural context. That is, something has aroused my mind, heart and spirit and the ignition has caught my attention though, with hindsight, I may already have been subconsciously percolating and chewing on a related or background issue. The initial bubbling, boiling, gnashing and colliding of impressions and images, notions and emotions constitute the search for neuronal connections and novel associations.
As a "Motivational Psychohumorist" ™ (and I'll let you decide where the emphasis on the second word should go), I subscribe to the bond between wit and originality noted by the great American writer and humorist, Mark Twain. According to Twain, "Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation." Of course, the preceding conceptual courtship and subsequent union have been known to be drawn out and edgy if not stormy. However, alongside the state of confusion, seeming contradiction and challenge is a sense of intuition: that the proverbial blood, sweat and tears, i.e., the risk of jumping into this mental cacophony will, over time, be worth the reward – the joy (and relief) of discovering unexpected relations or diverse perspectives and designing an uncommon and meaningful harmony. And audience affirmation helps keep the virtuous cycle going.
The latest imaginative arena-adventure involved writing a dark yet witty and wicked lyric about being caught in the web of workplace change in today's uncertain and unstable climate – from reorganizations and downsizings to regime transfers and mergers. Let me outline the social-psychological musings, interactions and working processes of a mind in creative heat, one skewering both convention and dysfunction, and also looking to construct unusual or unexpected yet pointed analogies and meaningful connections. While the gestation and actual birth seemed only weeks in the making, the genesis involves a previous Stress Doc ™ lyric also written during a period of economic trouble (the early 1990s recession). So an outdated yet relevant verse has been lying fallow. Or perhaps more accurately, a template has been in dynamic hibernation for over a decade-and-a-half, just waiting for the right moment – the confluence of head and heart, gut and soul along with past, present and future experience and perspective – to emerge from the shadows of the creative closet.
Two final motivating thoughts: 1) that the developmental analysis of the lyric's birth stimulates and supports your own creative undertakings and 2) that this contemporary poetic message can lighten and enlighten our hearts and minds as well as raise the spirit during troubling times. Hopefully, "The Reorg Rag" ™ brings to life the words and wisdom of the pioneering visionary, Helen Keller:
"The world is so full of care and sorrow; it is a gracious debt we owe one another to discover the bright crystals of delight hidden in somber circumstances and irksome tasks."
Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" , a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is a one-of-a-kind "Motivational Humorist & Team Communication Catalyst." The "Doc" is an acclaimed keynote and kickoff speaker known for his interactive, inspiring and FUN speaking and workshop programs. The "Stress Doc" is also a team building and organizational development consultant for a variety of govt. agencies, corporations and non-profits. And he is AOL's "Online Psychohumorist" ™. A former Stress and Conflict Consultant for the US Postal Service, the Stress Doc is the author of Practice Safe Stress and of The Four Faces of Anger. See his award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" -- www.stressdoc.com -- called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR). For more info on the Doc's "Practice Safe Stress" programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email stressdoc@aol.com or call 01-875-2567.
Posted: 03/22/2011
