Words that flow like water, not molasses, according to Ray Bradbury.

If you’ve ever played or watched sports, you’ll know that players will do various things to stay warm.

Before their match, you’ll see them going through stretches, light jogs and movements. 

During their match, when they’re on the sideline, you’ll see them pacing, using stationary bikes affixed with a huge fan or keeping warm with a coat. 

Anything and everything to stay warm, agile and ready to go.

Because when you’re warm and ready to go, you can perform at an optimal level.

While staying warm is most commonly associated with physical movements, it’s just as essential for other areas of the body.

In the context of writing, keeping the brain warm is just as essential as athletes keeping their bodies warm.

It’s the difference between words flowing like water and words flowing like molasses.

There’s an old saying: If I don’t practice one day, I know it. Two days, the critics know it. Three days, the audience knows it.

And each day you go without penning words to paper, the harder it is to find your groove.

The same goes with any endeavor you partake in, really.

So how do we help the mind stay warm?

In relation to writing, Ray Bradbury tells us his strategy on how to keep the mind warm.

And that strategy is to read poetry every single day.

Why?

Bradbury writes:

“Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don't use often enough. Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition. It keeps you aware of your nose, your eye, your ear, your tongue, your hand. And, above all, poetry is compacted metaphor or simile.” 

While Bradbury is completely right, I think why his method works so well due to the nature of poems.

Poems use the least amount of words yet carry so much meaning.

Or at least the best ones do.

They describe a person, place or emotion so well in so few words, they are almost magic.

Poems allow you to absorb highly-concentrated thoughts and stories, just as athletes fuel their bodies with the best supplements, workout routines and recovery practices.

— George