I’ve just finished a course at the Wellbeing Centre I attend called a WRAP, fortunately it does not mean they have finished me up, instead its initials stand for Wellness recovery action planning. In brief, its asking you to focus on the things that happen in our lives when we are well (tricky to analyse when you feel like a bag of shit) but then when the discussions within the group allow these statements air time the chance of stumbling across something resembling your reality is more likely to happen. We incorporated some visual dimensions into the plan, colouring in items on the list, creating pictures around which our goals and fears could nestle. Since times I have started taking my sketch book and pencils out with me again,(previously blogged about this) in an attempt to capture some sense of my everyday reality in place of the muggy fog that generally fills my memory cells.
I had the sketching stuff in my bag as I eventually headed off with Betty to take our daily walk out. I was thinking and worrying as usual; one thought was that I should try and discover more about mindfulness, it’s the next course I have signed up for at the PSS and also something that has gained almost universal praise for its help coping with poor mental health. I remembered one suggestion shared with me that had helped one of the wellbeing staff; focus on something that you don’t usually notice. As I was now in a nearby park I began looking around for something to do just that with-I eventually started noticing the trees around me. I know very little about trees, so started noticing them. To help I got out my sketching stuff and began drawing some of what I saw. I began with a leaf, I was pretty sure it was a Sycamore, famous for helicopter styled seeds which I remember discovering first outside my grandparent’s house and having great fun with my younger brother on many occasions when the family visits were starting to drag. Well I started noticing other features about the tree, its shape, its height, how frequently it populated the rest of the green space.
So this gets me thinking about all sorts of things, not least how the landscape that I have walked through so many times has neglected to capture my intense interest before. By now I have found another tree to focus on, this one I’m pretty sure is a Silver Birch, I’ve come across these in abundance during holidays in Scotland over the years. Today I am focusing on the way it is constructed, how the leaves twist in the breeze and collectively reflect the sun creating a beautiful shimmering screen of nature, how the branches weigh down and create the shape of the tree. When amidst a forest of these trees I failed to analyse these details, too busy attempting to admire ‘breathtaking mountain vistas’ so passing through these common featureless trees.
By now the daily grind of walking the dog has become something else altogether, to be honest we were both doing our own thing. As we wound our way back home an hour or so later, I’m thinking of the work I had to do in exploring further this piece of land that is just five minute’s walk from my house. I think about how lucky i am to have this neglected piece of greenery nearby, but also how in all these years I have failed to take notice of the natural life of the place. I don’t know if this experience I have just had fulfils the mindfulness brief or not, I guess after i complete the course I will be better able to answer this question...till then
I had the sketching stuff in my bag as I eventually headed off with Betty to take our daily walk out. I was thinking and worrying as usual; one thought was that I should try and discover more about mindfulness, it’s the next course I have signed up for at the PSS and also something that has gained almost universal praise for its help coping with poor mental health. I remembered one suggestion shared with me that had helped one of the wellbeing staff; focus on something that you don’t usually notice. As I was now in a nearby park I began looking around for something to do just that with-I eventually started noticing the trees around me. I know very little about trees, so started noticing them. To help I got out my sketching stuff and began drawing some of what I saw. I began with a leaf, I was pretty sure it was a Sycamore, famous for helicopter styled seeds which I remember discovering first outside my grandparent’s house and having great fun with my younger brother on many occasions when the family visits were starting to drag. Well I started noticing other features about the tree, its shape, its height, how frequently it populated the rest of the green space.
So this gets me thinking about all sorts of things, not least how the landscape that I have walked through so many times has neglected to capture my intense interest before. By now I have found another tree to focus on, this one I’m pretty sure is a Silver Birch, I’ve come across these in abundance during holidays in Scotland over the years. Today I am focusing on the way it is constructed, how the leaves twist in the breeze and collectively reflect the sun creating a beautiful shimmering screen of nature, how the branches weigh down and create the shape of the tree. When amidst a forest of these trees I failed to analyse these details, too busy attempting to admire ‘breathtaking mountain vistas’ so passing through these common featureless trees.
By now the daily grind of walking the dog has become something else altogether, to be honest we were both doing our own thing. As we wound our way back home an hour or so later, I’m thinking of the work I had to do in exploring further this piece of land that is just five minute’s walk from my house. I think about how lucky i am to have this neglected piece of greenery nearby, but also how in all these years I have failed to take notice of the natural life of the place. I don’t know if this experience I have just had fulfils the mindfulness brief or not, I guess after i complete the course I will be better able to answer this question...till then