Tag Archive | healing

Poetry therapy

Jan31

The art of writing poetry is therapy. Listening to poetry can be therapeutic as well.

According to the National Association of Poetry Therapy, “poetry therapy, or poetry which is used for healing and personal growth, may be traced back to primitive man, who used religious rites in which shamans and witchdoctors chanted poetry for the well-being of the tribe or individual. It is documented that as far back as the fourth millennium B.C.E. in ancient Egypt, words were written on papyrus and then dissolved into a solution so that the words could be physically ingested by the patient and take effect as quickly as possible. It is also recorded that around 1030 B.C.E., the music of a shepherd boy named David soothed the “savage breast” of King Saul”. http://www.poetrytherapy.org/history.html

Check out some of my poetic expressions.
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Grieving and grace

Jan8

It has been almost two months since my mother passed away. Most stats note that it takes two years to “get over” the loss of a loved one. I am nowhere near that timeline, so I cannot say if it will be the same for me. I’ve known loss, but not the loss my mother, who I was very close to.

What has happened so far is unannounced crying spells, prolonged sadness, bursts of joy, anxiety, anger, ruminating the last memory of words mom spoke to me, feeling distant, and hope that I am processing my grief as to be expected. I believe I have been given grace so that I can press on like my mother would want me to.

Two years to a grieving person feels like an eternity. The memories of the dearly departed is what keeps me on the lookout for the turns up ahead. Telling myself healing words, supporting others who are grieving, reading inspirational material, being still, meditating, praying, journaling, drawing, and receiving support from loved ones keeps me going. Next stop… healed and joyful.

My lamentation

Aug13

I’ve not been posting for a while due to a lot of life changes going on, primarily grieving my mother while she has been ill.  I’ve flown to my hometown and back to my place of residence and now back to Detroit again.  It has been very difficult on my entire family.  I don’t show all my emotions or all of what I am thinking about situations, I never have.  But my mother being ill has really zapped me to my knees and sends me to tears many a days.  Since I do not reside in Detroit, it is even more difficult on me to live in another state and wanting my mother to know I would like to be with her all the time if I were able.  Anyway, the point of this post is to say that grief and support can be shown in many ways.  Writing this post helped me to deal with my grief because I can express my thoughts and feelings without direct judgement. I am reminded of Lamentations 3:31-58 (see http://biblehub.com/context/lamentations/3-31.htm).

To all those going through a similar experience, I hope that you find the support you need to stay strong and grieve as part of healing.

 

Scar tissue

Apr30

We’ve all fallen down as children and maybe scraped our knee or elbow.  The healing process varies in duration.  Along the way it stops bleeding, itches, is coated with a scab.  Sometimes we pick at it, other times we just let nature run its course.  At first sight the wound more than likely looked like it would never heal… but it did.  How do we know? Because the scar tissue is a reminder of where we’ve been and also what event left us with interesting body art.

Today I experienced something in a conversation that could have potentially wounded me, but I have “fallen” down on this same place emotionally several times in the past.  I’ve grown emotional scar tissue so thick that that event does not open the wound for me anymore. I recognized it and stayed focused on what I was there to do, it was to teach and not fall down.

I want to encourage you today to not fall down.  If you do, hopefully you have emotional scar tissue to buffer you.  If not, know that it will itch, scab over, and eventually heal. Each time you fall down on that same “spot”, you start to recognize that the impact of the fall is not as damaging.

photo source: pixabay.com

photo source: pixabay.com