How Haiku Writing Can Help You Relax

Postconsumers reports:

"A haiku, just in case you’ve never heard of it, is a form of Japanese poetry that has a strict syllable count per line. The first line is five syllables, the second is seven syllables and the third is again five syllables...You may be asking, 'How does knowing what a haiku is help me find satisfaction in my daily life?' Believe it or not, there’s been research done and it’s often suggested that the process of writing haiku can be both calming and therapeutic, and additionally the simplified nature that you must put a concept into in order to put it into the form of a haiku helps you to see the simple core of both the beautiful and the difficult things in your life. As one advocate of haiku therapy wrote, 'I found that the more I wrote, the simpler life’s dilemmas became.' There are many forms of writing therapy that you can find satisfaction in. However, many people enjoy the form of haiku because it can be either emotional and lovely or funny and humorous. Additionally, the structure of haiku as we mentioned is an appealing and calming process. The next time you think you need to go buy more stuff or turn on bad TV, write a haiku about how silly that could be. Then see if you still want to do it! Go out and write a haiku today. Write about anything! Write a haiku about what you ate for breakfast or the frustrating people on the street! Once you start, you’ll want to haiku like we do, all the time!"