Tag: Writing for Wellbeing

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 7 2023



Today, it’s all about the list and how a list can inspire a poem.


Here is a list of instructions.


Instructions

Put down your screens and stand up. 

Go into the heart of the forest.

Lie face down on the ground.

Smell the rotting undergrowth,

the musk of creatures unseen.

Feel the fallen leaves warm 

your swollen belly.

Smile at the earthworms rising 

through the undergrowth to greet you.

Tell them how exhausted you are.

Now imagine their world.

How they wriggle and squirm,

passing the decomposing scrub

through their tubular form.

Think about them pulling 

dead leaves deep into tunnels,

breaking them down to feed

all that grows in the forest. 

Now you know how sacred 

the earthworm is, get up.

Go home and be grateful. 

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 6 2023



Day 6 asked that we search for a poem in another language, absorb the ‘sound and shape of the words’ and use this as a basis for a poem. https://www.napowrimo.net/day-six-10/


Here is my offering:


How to Be 

In this world, always be you

I say to myself. 

Pause often 

to observe what arises.

Be aware, keeping a gentle

gaze upon someone’s smouldering eye.

Let arising thoughts float 

by like clouds in the sky.

Drink deeply to nourish 

your body-mind and soul.

You are infinite, everlasting 

and real, your true self.

Don’t say ‘I am scared’,

just breathe and Be.

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 5 2023

Day five invites us to write a poem that ‘illuminates the juxtaposition between grief and joy, sorrow and reprieve.’ https://www.napowrimo.net/day-five-10/


My poem came from a memory.


Keep Dancing

There was a moment when my mother

was stuck in her chair with cancer 

creeping up her spine.


She said to me:

‘I’m not going to get any better.’


‘I’m learning to dance,’ I said. ‘The waltz.’

‘Show me,’ she said.

And I did. 

Opening my arms to an imaginary partner,

I stepped around the room.

One, two, three, one, two, three …


She said to me:

‘Let me show you how.’


There was a miraculous moment 

when my mother rose from her chair  

and pulled me to her breast.

‘Follow me,’ she said.

And I did.

We danced and danced, laughed and laughed.

Tears of joy streamed down my face. 

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 4 2023

Today’s poem is a first for me. The task was to write a triolet which is an eight-line poem with certain rules around rhyme and syllables. Take a look here for the finer details: https://www.napowrimo.net/day-four-11/

I hope you enjoy reading my triolet.



Praise Song

Praising the light of early Spring

Above me a skylark rises

My body tingles. Hear it sing!

Praising the light of early Spring

My mind is empty. Full of zing! 

My joyous heart brings surprises 

Praising the light of early Spring

Above me a skylark rises

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 3 2023

Today was a challenge but I have something to share.

See here if you are curious how this piece came about: https://www.napowrimo.net/day-three-9/

Beyond Happiness 

After you know what kindness really is, 

you may find ordinary things like a smile, 

a tear, or a touch, taste like honey.

What you let fall from your hand,

what you discounted and threw away

must stay, so you know how joyful

a moment can be within the vast, 

open landscape of kindness.

At first, you stumble along fearing 

you will never find the path, envying 

others who are already there.

After you discover the light of kindness

you must stay with the one who is fighting

themselves and see how this could be you,

how they too are someone who travelled 

with no plans and a complicated breath.

After you know kindness as the only thing,

you will know happiness as the shallowest thing.

You may go to sleep with happiness, dream 

of it until your subconscious snags on the gauze 

of all pain and wake, knowing the size of your wound.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense,

only kindness that unties your ankles,

sends you out into the night to find the path,

only kindest that lowers its head

from the solitariness that is you to say,

It is you I have been searching for,

and then accompanies you everywhere

like the friend you have never had. 

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 2 2023

It’s the second day of National Poetry Writing Month and my offering this time didn’t take long to complete.

The prompt was a nudge towards the surreal which delighted me. It was suggested, like the Romanian-born poet Paul Celan once did, we write a series of surrealist questions and answers and from this, craft a poem.

I loved doing this, sitting in an area of our kitchen I call ‘poetry corner’, with a cuppa, relishing the Spring sunshine streaming in through the patio doors. My resulting poem surprised me.

Take a look here if you are interested in trying this exercise yourself: https://www.napowrimo.net/day-two-10/

Thank you for reading.

Pathway to Love

There is a mysterious cloth 

darned and patched with jute .

Fear in disguise.

Protecting me from the silent 

arrow aimed at my heart.

What if I chose to listen

to the echo from the Universe? 

To discard the armour.

Know the spear already piecing 

my soul is in truth a pointer.

A pathway to Love. 

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Na Po Wri Mo – April 1 2023

This is my response to https://www.napowrimo.net/poets-start-your-engines/ and my first time taking part in National Poetry Writing Month, an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April. I feel inspired but acknowledge it’s a target I may not achieve. I can but try.

How to Write Poetry

I will keep on wondering 

about the broken things

that make me cry.  

About deep green 

oceans, swollen waves 

and pear drop tears.

I will keep on listening

to the yawning silence within 

where a steady, single flame 

burns with desire 

to be known, to belong

and to be heard. 

I will keep on letting go

of all that is out there, 

and focus on inner sensations 

pulsing, prickling, pumping,

informing me I am alive

and have something to say.

I will keep on watching clouds 

billowing, leaves fluttering, 

sunrises, the moon, setting suns.

Hope for fox cubs scampering,

damselflies resting, a badger

and recognise I too am nature.

I will keep on remembering

presence, moments of beauty,

here and now despite being 

burdened with a flickering mind.  

To write poetry is to find joy

and to discover why I am here. 

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Writing for Wellbeing

Any writing, including free writing, writing stories, poems, journaling, even letters, can improve our mood and wellbeing. You don’t need any special materials other than a notebook/paper and pen/pencil and you don’t need to write with good grammar or punctuation or be an accomplished writer to benefit, just a willingness to get your own words down on the page.

I am thrilled to be able to offer a series of five Writing for Wellbeing workshops (see my Writing for Wellbeing page for more information). Using a variety of writing prompts such as poems, objects, photos and visualisations, my aim is to help participants express themselves through writing.

By writing down our thoughts, feelings and ideas, things can become clearer, more understandable and gives a sense of perspective and control. Writing helps with personal development and this kind of writing has the potential for therapeutic benefit.

Writing can stir up many thoughts, feelings and strong emotions and so it is important to write what is within safe limits and to practice self-care. Sharing writing with other participants in the group is not obligatory.

These workshops are designed to use the medium of writing for self-discovery, affirming the ability to know what is needed to enhance personal wellbeing.

Benefits: 

  • Experience a sense of release as words are written down on the page.
  • Helps people get in touch with themselves.
  • Helps gain a sense of control over unsettling emotions.
  • Increases self awareness and feelings of compassion for the self and for others.
  • Helps bring things into perspective and helps to see things from other perspectives.
  • Helps with feeling restored emotionally as people focus on what they already have and what they may need to improve their wellbeing.

This series of workshops is designed around 5 different ways to wellbeing which research has shown can improve our sense of feeling good about ourselves and our lives. Whilst including happiness, wellbeing has a much broader concept than moment to moment pleasures and includes how satisfied and fulfilled we feel, our sense of purpose, how in control we feel and how we evaluate our lives as a whole. Wellbeing is a process of discovery and is different for different people.

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Clearing Out

The origin of yoga has been lost in the midst of time. The closest we can get, is that it began in India over 5000 years ago. In today’s modern world, many people think of yoga as a physical practice, but this is not the case. The essence of yoga is about stilling the mind, emptying the mind. If you’ve ever tried to sit in meditation, you will realise this is extremely difficult to achieve and certainly for any length of time. The physical poses and the breathing we practice on the mat are tools to use to help still the mind off the mat.

This week I am in the Lake District. On some of my walks, I have been alone, spending time on the hills and mountains practicing yoga. No, I haven’t gone into a downward dog on the summit nor knelt down on the fell to do a cat – I’ve been practicing emptying my mind and having a psychological clear out of all the rubbish I carry around in it in an attempt to find an inner stillness and tranquility.

In recent years, as I have developed my yoga practice, I have been focussing on taking what I practice on the mat, off the mat, and into my day to day activities. I have learnt I can practice yoga anytime and anywhere just by becoming aware and bringing myself back to the present moment.

I have a tendency towards an over active mind and if I am not careful, I can find myself ruminating about things (people, events, issues, situations, imaginings, ideas etc.) to the detriment of my wellbeing.

One of my daily affirmations is to have a clear, steady, quiet and alert mind. This is far easier to achieve when I’m walking in the Lake District than when I am at home. This week I have focussed on having a clear out of my mind and enjoyed peace and quiet when out on the fells. The challenge will be to maintain this sense of being when I leave this beautiful national park behind and return to my usual day to day routines.

It is therefore my intention whenever … :

  • I catch myself ruminating about my past (which I can do nothing about)
  • Worrying about my future (which I have no control over)
  • Getting stuck with an issue I can’t resolve
  • Churning over something in my mind I feel guilty about OR
  • Overthinking a decision I need to make, when all I need to do is listen to my heart and my gut,

… that I pause, watch my thoughts, allow them to float away and then reset. I will remember I don’t need to roll out my mat, practice asanas and breathing or sit cross legged in meditation … I can achieve this wherever I am and whatever I am doing. I don’t need to be solo walking in the Lake District.

All it takes is practice!

LIHazleton.
Follow me on Twitter where I connect with other writers and all things writing. Follow me on Instagram if you love nature.

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Being With Your Intuition – Anja Chakra

We experience the world we live in through our senses.

We’ve all learned to trust our senses in what we we can taste, smell, touch, see and hear, but these sense perceptions can limit us and stunt our spiritual growth. Everyone has heard of the sixth sense; our intuition, our ability to tap into a deeper sense perception, but how can we learn to trust this too? This is what the Anja Chakra or the Third Eye Chakra is all about.

The symbolism of the Third Eye Chakra is acquiring wisdom beyond our perceptions, so we can see beyond what is illusion. It is witnessing a freedom beyond the realms of what can hold us back; stereotypes, for example, traditions, conventions, rules and regulations and powerful conditions of worth placed upon us by our parents. We can break out and realise ultimately nothing can hold us back – it is only the mind that has power over us and if we can control the mind, we can then transcend any limitations.

When I think of this, I am reminded of Victor Frankl and his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. A holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl believed that in the most unbearable conditions, one can survive through one’s spiritual self. He noted that animals have instincts to guide them but that we have replaced instincts with social traditions, finding guidance in conformity and conventionality, but overlooking the freedom and the responsibility to make our own choices in life and to find our own meaning.

Connection with the Third Eye Chakra helps us to see beyond what is deemed the ‘norm’ and beyond the mind and all its desires, longings, worries, fears and judgments. We then enter into the realms of knowledge, wisdom, and intuition.  The Ajna Chakra is the seat of emotional intelligence and the sixth sense that regulates the five lower chakras. When Ajna Chakra is open and balanced we feel inspired and creative and are able to see intuitively.

When I was a young person, I looked to other people for guidance and advice. I sought opinions when I needed to make decisions and asked whether my thinking was sound or if I ought to choose a different way. Sometimes, I asked what I should do. I often followed other people in what they did, in all different facets of life; in career choices, in what I wore, what food I ate, in how I conducted myself in social situations and what lifestyle choices I made. As I grew older, this changed as I learnt to pay attention to my inner guide, but I still fell into the trap of social conditioning and in many situations, I didn’t follow my instincts. This only caused further trauma and difficulties in my life; damaging relationships with men, unrewarding job choices, an unhealthy lifestyle. I was suffering, but only because I wasn’t awakened to the life force within me; the ability to ‘see’ with my third eye.

Thankfully, I have left all this behind, but it wasn’t until I fully embraced yoga as a mind, body, soul practice that I realised developing the third eye is the doorway to moving beyond the physical world to a unified whole with an unyielding connection to spirit.

In my yoga practice, working with the third eye chakra can realize the following benefits:

  • mental clarity
  • improved concentration
  • clear self-expression
  • strengthened intuition
  • a sense of bliss
  • decisiveness
  • insight

I have one more chakra to write about, the seventh chakra, or crown chaka, known as Sahasrara or Thousand Petals. This is where there is no intellectual knowing but only serenity, joy, and deep peace.

LIHazleton.
Follow me on Twitter where I connect with other writers and all things writing. Follow me on Instagram if you love nature .