​ABSORPTION

I try not to think
and just absorb
like tissue paper,
all around me,
as the morning ocean
engulfs my senses.
 
I try not to think
and just absorb
like tissue paper,
all around me,
but sand tickles my nose
and I sneeze.
 
Bless you.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. When did you last have a blessing? 
2. When did you lastr give a blessing to someone who sneezed?

​FALSE POSITIVE

Numbers that add up
do not always give
the right answer.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write down the three numbers that are most significant for you.
2. What are the events/places/times that these represent?
3. How do you feel about these?
4. In a perfect world, would you like to have a different answer?

FACIAL RECOGNITION
 
Our face is a mirror
for all that we have found
in the world.
 
Our eyes are a window
for all that we are
still searching for.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you see when you look closely at your face in a mirror?
​2. What do you see in your eyes?

​FAILURE 
 
What if our failure is in reality
our greatest success?
What if our failure is really a jolt
to get us back on track,
or a blockage to stop us
going in the wrong direction?
What if our failure is the start
of what we should be doing?
 
You see there is
no such thing as failure.
There is only
the elimination of an option,
the opportunity to start better,
or the chance to uncover more
of who we really are.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. What do you consider as failures in your past? 
​2. How might you re-look at these now as 'the elimination of an option, the opportunity to start better, or the chance to uncover more of who you really are'. 

ODD MAN OUT
 
Where do men go
to talk?
Where do men go
for friendship and support?
Where do men go
with their worries and fears?
 
Where do men go
to share their skills?
Where do men go
to find a place of acceptance?
Where do men go
to build their future?
 
Where do men go
to make a difference?
Where do men go
when they are on their own?
Where do men go
these days?

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Which strategy will you use for the rest of your day?
2. When should you 'seize the day' and when should you 'let go of the day'?

​DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR
 
I’m thinking of everything
and then nothing.
Fully alert and
then nearly asleep.
I’m scheming about work
and then lost in daydreams.
 
My morning time
when I sit on my own,
is without order and format.
It is not planned or predictable.
I am all over the place,
with no direction or focus.
 
So I accept what comes,
what stays, what goes,
and what is.
For all is now, in this time
and all, somehow makes sense,
in this disorderly behaviour.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  How do you make sense of all that  you are? ​

DEFROST​ 

You are not behind schedule.
You are not trying to catch up.
You do not have a mountain of work .
You do not need to go crazy.
 
No, you are exactly
where you should be.
For all else is just activity,
and not you.
 
You are okay.
All is totally fine.
You can relax.
 
What is really important
will eventually get done.
And all else will melt away.

RESPITE CARE

Stop playing around with
all the different pieces of your life.
Stop trying to make this work
and that happen.

Just stop.

All of those things
are what you think
you need to make happen,
to survive and earn.

But they are not.

They are in fact consuming
your time and energy,
and taking you away
from what you should be doing.

So stop.

Go back to basics.
Go back to you.
Go back to all that you are
and let new energy emerge from here.

Look after yourself.

OUTLOOK

​​It’s just so great to sit here
and not have to think about work,
​or all the tasks I need to do.
There are still there of course,
but in these moments
there is nothing to do.
 
There is no clamour, no burden
no pressure and no stress.
In these moments,
I can just sit here in a gentle way,
looking in a different way,
in a different direction.