Get Moving

 

I Am 

by John Clare
 
I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes—
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;
Even the dearest that I loved the best
Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

The week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year is 'Movement: Moving More For Our Mental Health.'  Click here to find out more and especially about how you can start moving to protect your mental health.

I definitely improved my well-being this afternoon with a walk from Brighouse, along the canal to Elland where we stopped off for a cuppa at at Project Colt.The sun was shining, birds were singing, fish were jumping (bream I think) and it was great to see several broods of goslings and ducklings.

Writing prompts:

• Have you found any moments for movement recently? If so, write about what you did and how it made you feel.
  
• Are you feeling anxious right now? Make a list of all the things that are making you feel that way, then choose just one of them, set a timer and write about it in more detail for six minutes. 
• Do you sometimes feel, like the poet, that 'friends forsake you'? If so, what can you do to change this? Write down your ideas.
• When we're anxious, it's difficult to sleep. Click here for tips on how to get a better night's sleep. Make a list of all the words that come to mind when you think of a good night's sleep. Turn those words into a poem. 
• Try to put anxiety aside for a moment, and spend six minutes writing about what you are grateful for and what makes you feel joyous.