To the Sensitive Ones, poem for Poetry Month

TO THE SENSITIVE ONES... 

By Jeff Foster

Do not be ashamed of your sensitivity!
It has brought you many riches.

You see what others cannot see,
Feel what others are ashamed to feel.
You are more open, less numb.

You find it harder to turn a blind eye.

You have not closed your heart,
in spite of everything. 

You are able to hold 
the most intense highs
and the darkest lows 
in your loving embrace.
(You know that neither defines you.
Everything passes through.
You are a cosmic vessel.) 

Celebrate your sensitivity!
It has kept you flexible and open.
You have remained close to wonder. 
And awareness burns brightly in you. 

Don't compare yourself with others.
Don't expect them to understand.
But teach them:

It’s okay to feel, deeply.
It’s okay to not know. 
It’s okay to play 
on the raw edge of life.

Life may seem ‘harder’ for you at times,
And often you are close to overwhelm. 
But it’s harder still 
to repress your overwhelming gifts.

Sensitive ones, 
Bring some gentleness into this weary world! 
Shine on with courageous sensitivity!
You are the light bearers!

April is Poetry Month: Peace

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

In fear of why my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

The Heroine's Quest at Mid-Life

I'm facilitating a class online right now about the journey at mid-life, which I call a quest because of the challenges and tasks that we face - divorce, menopause, chronic illness, deaths in the family, job changes, reinventing ourselves, the endings and new beginnings seem to multiply.

The best tools I know for gaining perspective and understanding your journey better are creative ones - journaling and SoulCollage(R) in my case.

We follow the framework of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, the product of his study of myths and legends around the world.

At the end of the class, participants write their own story, imagined or real, about their Quest. Here is a video my son made for me, using my cards and the imaginary quest I made the SoulCollage cards for (from my first taught class).

Enjoy!

Jennifer

www.jenniferboire.com