These poems are about therapy and life’s struggles. They take you on a verbal, visual and emotional journey. Written for anyone who reaches for deeper meaning in their inner and outer worlds, or who strives for personal growth through the puzzling process of becoming and being, this intricate, poetic and artistic tapestry invites the reader to engage on therapeutic, spiritual and philosophical levels.
“Replenishes the soul… Brimming with honour and compassion.” – Amazon reviewer
“… very beautiful and a moving evocation of therapy / soul work.” Professor Joy Schaverien, Jungian Psychoanalyst, Author of ‘Boarding School Syndrome: The Psychological Trauma of the Privileged Child’
“…an extraordinary accomplishment. …full of emotion, pain, and hope.” Pauline Andrew MA Couns/Psych, Director, Deep Release, Managing Director, Barnabas Counselling Training.
This book offers a compassionate and dignified view of distress and brokenness, while pointing to the beautiful and mysterious energies and immense healing resources of the mind.
A collection of inspirational shaped poetry and corresponding artwork by the author, these are Richard’s reflections on psychotherapy and the creative energy and healing power of the mind, woven into a tapestry of metaphors and forms. This book explores archetypal themes underlying the therapeutic journey. The reader is invited to dive in to the intertwined verbal and visual world of the book – and themselves – to engage with their own experience and process.
Themes running through the book include: light and dark, annihilation and resurgence; fragmentation and integration, transformation, healing and wholeness; concealment and discovery; identity, authenticity and becoming; creativity, energy, cycles and music; cellular, personal and universal perspectives. There is an air of mystery as the book raises questions and contains ambiguities and puzzles. The richly concentrated style is thought-provoking and moving, and its pages can be read rewardingly many times.
It is written for anyone who finds life a challenge, for clients and students of therapy, for counsellors, psychotherapists, and others concerned with mental health. It may also appeal on a spiritual and philosophical level, and to anyone interested in shaped poetry.
The substance of the poetry is expressed both in the shapes and in the words, and there is an essential coherence in the relationship between them. There is an unexpected depth and multi-layered symbolism to be found in the imagery, which is a vital, architectural part of the whole, and models a personal space for nurturing psychological resources in a world where intense pressures frequently defy a healthy state of mind.
This book reminds us that woundedness is not to be looked down on, that therapy is as much an art as a science, and that its essence can be as diverse and original as the mind itself.
