From Awful to Awe-full: Embracing Awe with The Therapeutic Poet
It’s funny writing these, because part of me truly believes that identifying and becoming familiar with different emotions can help us lead a more vibrant, connected life, but part of me is concerned that I don’t market it very well! It seems that nowadays everything is about ‘finding the pain point’ and fixing that.
And I know that might be a quicker ‘sales hook’ to draw people in, but I think that fundamentally this goes against my ethos. You see, I know that we live in a society that medicalises emotional stress, that is ready to slap the word ‘disorder’ on a whole range of typical responses to our human tricky things.
Positive psychology aims to encourage people to identify and nurture their strengths rather than ‘fixing’ what is ‘broken’, and I believe that our feelings are our strengths. So I’m not budging, even if that doesn’t fit in with marketing 101. I’m not in it for that.
So let’s start with a poem which I wrote in response to the feeling of the week: awe.
I wrote this poem from the ether; I mean, I guess that is where it all comes from, but this was addressing the sense of awe that is often the spark that is at the heart of my writing.
Awe is that feeling when you encounter something SO vast that you can’t wrap your mind around it completely in the moment.
It’s a very strong experience and it has a self-transcendent effect, in that it shifts attention away from ourselves and makes us feel part of something much greater. It also leads us to reframe the way in which we see the world in some way; it challenges our normal understanding of the world.
And couldn’t that be a fabulous tool to have at your finger tips, if you could create a sense of awe even in the trickiest of times. For when we feel awe, we are totally present in that moment and as Thich Nhat Hanh has said,
Life is available, only in the present moment.
Awe helps us to gain perspective, be curious, improve social wellbeing; it involves our senses, promotes prosocial behaviour, encourages playfulness, and creates a sense that you have more available time. Check out this video from On Being if you want to dig deeper into the psychology of awe.
Awe is flipping… AWEsome (unlike that pun).
Doing something to create awe in times of stress could give you a bit of a breather, so read on for some tips on how to bring awe into your life right now.
I’ve found awe in:
A slug
An ants’ nest
A spider’s web
A nut broken by a squirrel
Seeing a dead body
The other thing, which I particularly like, is that unlike other emotions that seem to get labelled as positive or negative (which is another topic altogether) awe is felt in both fantastic and gruesome situations. It’s an everyman emotion.
Awe can be a verb; it’s a way to notice, appreciate, pay attention.
Fancy a go?
Option 1
Think about something that gives you awe. Maybe the mountains, or a drop of rain on a leaf which reflects you back at yourself when you look closely and then write about it. And write about how you feel when you look at it; then write about the people who also get to see it or who will never see it and write about what it would look like in 50 years time or what it looked like 50 years ago and just let your pen move and write and write and write.
It may just move you from feeling awful to awe-full…
“It may look as if the situation is creating the suffering, but ultimately this is not so - your resistance is.” - Eckhart Tolle.
Option 2
Write a mindfulness poem
Take a deep breathe (x3)
Let your stomach go out as you breathe in.
Notice the rhythm of your breathing without changing anything
Become aware of your thoughts as an observer. Be present without judgment, without trying to solve a problem or continue a dialogue.
Relax and let the words come naturally, just let them come out. Be mindful of your words as they appear on the page.
Notice the shape of them, how the feeling in your body changes as you write certain words, do you feel a block as you try to write?
Now think about how you have fingers to write, a mind to conceive ideas, does that take you into thinking about robotics or neurons? Where does it take you? Where do you notice a sense of expanse or humility?
Option 3
Read ‘Otherwise’ poem and then think about your own day and use the poem’s theme, rhythm, or repetitions as scaffolding for your own poem.
Option 4
Close your eyes and point in any direction.
When you open your eyes what is the first object you see?
Now, I’m going to ask you to be in awe of it.
To be so consumed by the presence of it.
Start by asking: who where when why and what?
For example, if your eyes rested on a glass, ask yourself:
Who made the thing, where were they when they made the decision to make it, when did their thought become an actual physical thing?
Think about:
Where it came from
Where did you buy it?
Why did you choose it - or was it chosen for you?
Do you like it?
How does it feel when you hold it?
What is the first word that comes to mind when you look at it?
Does it provoke a memory or a feeling?
Poetry is in the questions and the answers that are there.
Finally, I wanted to offer this video of Marina Abramovic.
Marina Abramovic is a performing artist and in this installation she was in a museum for 3 months, for 8 hours a day. Each day she sat in a chair and looked at the person in front of her. In this video a man comes and sits opposite her. The man is Ulay, a man that she had a relationship with for 13 years. They separated by walking the Wall of China for 3 months to meet in the middle, where they embraced each other for the last time and then walked away. This is the first time that they have seen each other since then.
Watch it and notice how you respond to it. Maybe you sense an energy shift in yourself, but can’t put words to it; there’s just a heart connection. That, in my opinion, is awe.
As always, it’s a pleasure to write these weekly posts for you. I did also want to add in this video message. It’s Pride month this month and Jude Guaitamacchi, who was on my podcast last year, posted a video about the transphobia that they are experiencing at the moment. I just wanted to add my support to them and the Pride community, which I do in this video.
Let me know how you get on if you do any of the exercises - or if you’d rather I did posts that were more geared towards your pain points 😂.
That’s it for now,
‘til next time!
Jacky x