9 June 2018

Poetry and slowing down

Hello friends!
I'm coming to terms with some of the ideas I was exploring in my last post.
Here are some solutions I've found for me.

The best thing so far has been to 
take my foot off the accelerator!
For an adrenalin junkie like me this has consequences in my mood, and is not quite as easy as it seems. But it certainly quietens my nervous system and leaves me much more able to cope. I do love creation and discovery, so staying in one place for too long can depress my mood. This is a continual balancing act.


I am finding I can use my sensitive senses and my Autistic brain to dive deep into the moment. 
Exploring deeply into my senses
 helps time slow down and gives my brain something to feed on so it doesn't feel bored or run around trying to find something else to obsess over.
Also feeding my senses calms my body and gives me another layer of relaxation.




I am working out that when the volume suddenly feels turned up, or the speedometer is in the red, it often isn't the world that has changed, even if that is how my mind interprets it, 
so I run around trying to slot appointments into calendars and telling everyone to quieten down. When really I need to 
remove myself
 from being around people for a while until my mind quietens down and I can cope again.
I find it hard to understand this in the moment, as my mind interprets everything as external. It really is hard to realise the change has been within. I rely on others to help me with this.


I also have found poetry to be a huge help. Not just writing it, but 
using the poetic mindset
 which loves contradictions and paradox to help me live in amongst the chaos. To encourage me to not try and rule boxes around moments but to let life flow more freely through my hands and sit in the messy maelstrom.




Here are two poems I wrote along these lines.
I hope you enjoy them and maybe find encouragement for your life.

I love walking on edges
those crumbling places
that hold so much room
for new thoughts


I want to explore them
with my side eyes open
to sense wondrous
impossibilities of life


To believe in things
that shouldn't happen
and have mysteries
that confound the wise


I want to stay awake
to contradictions
to feel expansion
around the sides


To keep myself
from being rigid
and funnelling my thoughts
down the line


Help me to be
receptive to them
those spaces which
are hard to define


And help me to
receive within me
the lifelines that are
my poetic mind

17/5/18



When I am tired
and overwhelmed
I tie myself up tight
in boxes
cutting off any soul
hanging over the edge
I want to make life organised
cut and dried, certain
simple and easy to manage
but all that I lose when I restrict
and confine
is my expansive playful
mysterious self
17/5/18


OK we'll leave it there for now. I'm sure this isn't the last I will speak on this topic!

Til next time,
keep on creating!

Love,
Jazzy Jack


11 comments:

  1. I always love your poetry.

    I'm glad you've found some new ways to cope.

    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Suzanne, you know the way to a poet's heart.
      Yes, I'm always exploring!
      xo Jazzy Jack

      Delete
  2. i´m very impressed by your "plan" - i was thinking "yesyesyes" while reading - and "thats it!"!!!
    let me give you a big virtual hug - while i enjoy your poetry......
    <3
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Beate! I'm sure there are other solutions, but these will keep me going for a while. Easy to write about, not so easy to do!
      So glad it hit the spot.
      Hugs back!
      xo Jazzy Jack

      Delete
  3. Good for you, buddy. We all need to find balance and the right pace which differs from person to person.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I seem to spend more time finding balance than most!
      xo Jazzy Jack

      Delete
  4. It sounds like you had some significant break-throughs! And the gorgeous photography and your beautiful poetry only confirm that! Love that photo of you - I can sense freedom and joy in you! I'm very happy for you, and I share this vision, as you know - it all comes from within, almost nothing in this world is strictly external. And yes, it is easier to say than to do...but it's a process, we just need to remind it to ourselves when it feels hard.

    Lots of love!
    N

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I forgot to say reading, playing and listening to music, knitting, and hand sewing are also my current slow down mechanisms! xo Jazzy Jack

      Delete
  5. We love your Writing and of course Pictures and Poetry as we get a glimpse of the enormous creative thinking and doing mind which flows out to enrich the world !!! Thank you for sharing it. our love and hugs D&M.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your photos are wonderfully joyful!
    I unplugged and cracked on with stuff this weekend - trouble is, the longer a break I have, the bigger the to do list is when I've finished! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your poetry is wonderful! I love that you have found your balance!
    That is an enormous cliff of sand!!

    ReplyDelete

If a topic has special significance for you, or touches you in some way, I'd love to hear your story!