With most clients, I encourage journaling. I ask them to find a regular time, preferably daily or weekly, to write. I think it is an excellent way to uncover feeling that are just out of our awareness which we can explore in our time together. It can feel a little intimidating, especially, if like me, you have some negative associations left over from childhood and school around creativity. I can remember that most of my efforts being returned with half a red bic pens worth of corrections and notations confirming that I was rubbish at self expression. Still worse was constant admonishment  of  spelling accuracy and handwriting - but that I will cover in a later blog on dyslexia.

The point of this post and my blog, is for me to take my own advice. I have found over the past year that I have found that writing poetry has helped immeasurably when processing either my own personal battles or when experiencing a particularly gruelling session with a client. I have decided that I will post some of them here. All completely anonymous and since I have quite a backlog, none of the poems are inspired by current clients. No explanations about the inspiration...

Hopefully they will have a universal resonance.

But please don't mark my homework...

And Add To The Fuel

Build it higher this funeral pyre,

feed it with volatile hydrocarbons,

combustable with flashpoint low

conclusion are forgone.

Pile high the tinderbox

attach the blue strip paper

and from a safe distance

light the apprentice of humiliation.

Shame my shaman

corrupt my confidant

strip my bones and divorce my grief.

What lies here now lies beneath.

Then contain with ratchet tight, bolts of steel

tape it shut so nowt revealed.

Patrol with guard dogs, witness sign here.

The consignment of shame beneath the veneer.