Exploring Personal Perspectives 

[I had to leave for work and so left the following poem as my farewell rather than awaken my friend prematurely from a good sleep before his long drive home.]

Asleep in my bed
Well here’s to you my friend
Asleep in my bed.
In peaceful slumber you quietly lay
As I look on with the desire to play.
And so I must go
With nothing to be said,
Save that of  ‘thank you for sleeping in my bed.’
Sunshine and kisses…….
[When I returned home from work the following poem was awaiting ….. ]

Thank you for sharing the thoughts you gave me while I slept
You share with me so freely the things so many kept.
No need to ask if you may share the very thing I seek.
The brightest light that will not burn, the love that is so sweet.
And thank you too eternal one, of sun and sky and sea.
For all of this and some of that, and helping me love me.
[A few weeks later my friend presented me with another poem he had written]:-

Learn and live,
Earn and give.
Two together can be with
Peace and light
Pain and fright.
With no one wrong
And no one right.

[The following is a poem written for a boyfriend – soul mate, with whom I shared telepathic connections that were more profound than with any one else I have ever met.  Sadly our worldly sharing as partners, which seemed to suit me so perfectly, did not suit him so well.]

One of the first poems I wrote for him when we were together is the following ;-

My love, my love, how my separation from you
Brings me to know how close I am with you;
How our time with each other is only a small part of our togetherness.

His reply was as follows:-

When we are separated
over time
then we are together
But when we are together
we are together then also.
And when we talk it’s like
a river that gushes from within me
bearing my soul.
To your ocean.

Or to hear your voice
is the call of a strange exotic bird
I glimpsed only once before

And though I look up into the trees of The Forest
and can only listen.

After he had completed our relationship Lei sent another poem about our relationship:-
So I have excavated vast tracts of dirt,
and uncovered what was there all the time waiting to be found, but buried far beneath detritus and layers of centuries

and emerged triumphant clutching
Your words carefully couched in Sanskrit
waving the wisdom of witches at the grinning sun
and now
I walk barefoot through scorching sand
nodding at silences as a casual acquaintance who is passed on the way to somewhere.

And in the gloom I look at you
As you are pretending to sleep
‘old soul’ I am wondering ‘what have you seen’

How far past you can I but see?
But to the downs, grey and hazy in the distance
I can just make out
Your shadow dancing there.

At times like forever (this one)
I picture you silent in front of me
You’re frothy chuckle punctuating our dark hesitations
Like a strobe light
In a loft space. 

And you hold my thoughts in your cupped hands so that……(carefully don’t drop them)

You say it with a laugh
And when you laugh it is like the summer sun on water
And if I love you I want permission please to.

You are not abbreviated
You are longer than the ordinary sentence
More profound than all pithy sayings.

I am surrounded by Abbreviations ordinary sentences and pithy sayings
In fact mainly by technically efficient structures

You don’t fit into this anywhere
That’s a good thing.

Issues of separation from loved ones often creates strong feelings that are hard to share and hard to process however, creative writing can help us express the depth and complexity of these emotions:

Caught in my throat
Why are you crying? Said his soft dark tones.
I cry from the grief that is locked in my bones.
Scrunched in my toes
And caught in my throat.
The new day has begun,
The gray mists of dawning hours are clearing.
My mind’s cloak of despairing is left upon the floor
As the joys of today awaken in my heart.
I feel my potential and begin a playful day
As my sad sorrows fade away.

Creative writing can also transform stressful experiences into a more humorous and hopefully healing perspective.
Have a laugh on me! Well I’ve got spots on my face,
Yes a zit right on my nose.
My skin’s all shadows and wrinkles
From my head down to my toes.

I’ve a smell under my armpits
That I didn’t have before,
And bad breath and certain
I’ll clean me teeth some more.

Don’t stand too near me
You won’t to like what you see and smell,
And if that doesn’t put you off
Your risk catching ‘miseries’ as well.

A drink would go down nicely
If it’s the alcoholic kind.
So long as I can take the bottle
And leave a glass behind!

I’m always in the cupboard looking for things to eat;
Getting fatter by the minute, just think-
Before my lover left me to try another girl
I was fit and happy, life was a merry whirl.

I thought love’s supposed to keep you healthy,
Looking beautiful and young,
But really they’ve been kidding us
I’m telling you they’re wrong.

I must admit I’m wiser
An experienced and battered soul,
I suppose I should be grateful
But I can’t see no golden goal.

• If I have ‘nothing ‘ then grief has no rope to lasso my joy onto the restraints of expectation
and I remain inspired to receive all blessings with my trusting heart,
and all hopes with the quiet of my mind,
and each new day brings cleansing miracle showers.
Another positive and successful activity that can support creative expression and personal awareness starts with the instruction: ‘Draw and colour a picture that includes a tree or trees, water, a building, an obstacle and a path.
A further activity could be to create a short story that includes the five prominent aspects of the picture as listed above.
If working with a group of participants, when everyone has completed their picture the participants are given the explanation presented at the end of this chapter and then some time to contemplate how and what they feel about their own picture. Then, if they wish, working in pairs the participants are invited to share about their own picture and/or describe what they see and feel about the other person’s picture.
Finally each participant can have the opportunity to show their picture and read out their short story.
Three boxes

Using three box like containers:-
• One with see through sides or windows
• A black secret box
• An ornamental box to put something precious inside.

A Box
Here is a box just for you
To put your heart in, out of view,
Or it might be a place where our thoughts can meet
In playful freedom from worldly defeat.
Or maybe this box is for special things
To comfort your heart so that it sings.
And best of all, make the box your own
With creative declarations
Of loving seeds you have sown.

The item placed in the first box presents something associated with what you have or would like to share with others.
The second box is a safe place to put a secret that you would not want to share with anyone else. The black box can offer an opportunity to use creative writing as a therapeutic healing process. Secrets and unspoken words of anger, resentment, grief and frustration, that continue to fuel negative feelings, can also be placed in the black box. The secret/s and unspoken words can be written or drawn as a picture or symbols and/or represented by a significant object or picture. Ideally the black box should be sealed tight (duck-tape or masking tape is good) and then by request placed on a small fire.
The third box is a very beautiful box that wants to contain something precious and/or aesthetically pleasing.

All the boxes can also contain a piece of writing that describes the personal significance of the chosen item within. This may extend to include a note or letter to someone sharing something special or something that you would have liked to say, but were unable to share for whatever reason. Precious words of appreciation, gratitude and unspoken feelings can be placed in this ornamental box with an illustrative small gift.
The author has a wide and diverse collection of small BOXES that can inspire all sorts of games and creative language activities e.g. which box is missing(memory game); which is the box that contains my special item (yes and no, questions and answers game); using a conceptual link pair each box with its special item-for example, an oval stone could belong in the oval box (concepts of shape and form), while the clown belongs in the box with see-through sides because he wants everyone to watch his clowning act; the magnet goes in a metal box to which it can magnetically attach itself; the chess queen goes in her ornamental jewel studded jewellery box etc.

Alternative ways of exploring and reflecting through a personal perspective
Seven wicked wishes: If you had seven wishes, which would be completely and permanently free from any adverse consequences to yourself or anyone else, what would they be.?..!……
Twelve wonderful wishes
Ideal achievements for my life
How To………
E.g. Fall in love and stay in love; catch a hedgehog; Speak the truth in a powerful and gentle way; How to forgive quickly; Drive safely; Get what you want easily; Say goodbye etc……)