Poems for Times of Turmoil

Another gift arrived in my mail box this week.

This email was a message offering hope to people coping with challenging times

The email "gift" came from the staff of the Academy of American Poets with links to a collection of poems specially selected for Times of Turmoil.

It arrived with a note from the Executive Director, Academy of American Poets, Tree Swenson, who offered these comforting words:

We seem to be able to do so little against the loss and fear and panic. Yet poetry’s realm is precisely here — in the emotional center, where desire and terror and hope and dread converge without easy answers.

Poetry to Help During Challenging Times
I have been a long-time supporter of the use of poetry to help in challenging times, particularly to help with the grieving process. As I noted in this earlier blog post, Poetry - To Help You Make it Through

Poetry can help us realize we are not alone or unique in our grief or desolation. Someone else has lived through these intense emotions, felt what I am feeling and survived. I am not alone in these feelings of grief.

Executive Director, Academy of American Poets, Tree Swenson also noted that "Poetry can provide solace, give voice to despair, restore optimism, or simply remind us of our common connection through words."

William Faulkner said in his Nobel speech,

"The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."

Poetry Therapist John Fox so explains the beneficial effects of poetry:

Poems speak to us when nothing else will. Poetry helps us to feel our lives rather than be numb. Poem making helps us move through grief, life transitions and illness by providing comfort and sustenance on this difficult journey.

Poems for Turmoil - The Collection
I couldn't find the list of poems yet on the Academy of American Poets, so I have included the list with links to the site below.

• The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less by Gerard Manley Hopkins
• blessing the boats by Lucille Clifton
• Identity Crisis by F. D. Reeves
• O Little Root of a Dream by Paul Celan translated by Heather McHugh
• Chaplinesque by Hart Crane
• Thing by Rae Armantrout
• O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman
• In a Country by Larry Levis
  
• Poet's Work by Lorine Niedecker

These poems are offered with the hope they will open the possibility of a different kind of reflection in the fog of uncertainty.

Growing from Challenges

I figured I would continue to explore resources for coping with challenges. With all of the craziness going on I think that many people will continue to need some comforting words.

Comedians often turn to comedy as a way of coping with their own life challenges and hardships. Carol Burnett is no exception.

I have always grown
from my problems
and challenges.
From the things
that don't work out,
that's when I've really learned.

Carol Burnett

She has faced many hardships and losses in her life, including the death of both a husband and a daughter.

One revelation in facing challenges is that many of us discover a strong internal sense of strength, for some a light, that helps to guide us through the difficult times.

Remember that these are the things that make us stronger.

Photo Source: Stefanie L. Breakthrough. Royalty Free Use.

Life Transitions - Challenges that Test the Soul

In the last blog, I looked at the definitions for Loss, Grief, Bereavement and Mourning. This time I'll look at the concept of Transitions since this blog is dedicated to "your times of transition."

What is a Transition?
Transition is a…

Passage from one state or stage to another;
especially: an abrupt change…usually accompanied by loss…(1)

Transitions in life can result from many different events. Some may be happy occasions such as births, marriages, new job or home or career promotions.

More often than not transitions are sad occasions like the end of a relationship, career, experiencing a traumatic event, child leaving home, loss of a loved one, being diagnosed with a life-threatening or terminal illness, or the ultimate transition-death.

Many of these "passages from one state to another," especially the challenging ones, are accompanied by a loss, by sorrow and by a grief response. These are the tough transitions, the ones that define a person.

Transitions - Life Defining Moments
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The ultimate measure of a [person] is not where s/he stands in moments of comfort, but where s/he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Frequently, these times of transition become a person's major life-defining moments—moments after which a life is forever changed. Elizabeth Harper Neeld writes, "Tough transitions are time we have lived that will remain part of who we are forever. The very person we are has been changed by these experiences." They are often some of the most significant times in our lives. (2)

Transitions - Times that Test the Soul
John M. Schneider writes,

When we are grieving, we often believe that no one else has ever suffered as much. Feeling utterly alone in the agony we experience and in our struggle to keep going, no words of solace can comfort unless they come from one who has walked our path. When such words come, we can begin to discover just how universal the process of grief is.

Eventually, we discover that humans have grieved throughout history and that grief's wisdom transformed people long before we came along. (3)

No mater what your source of loss or grief, whether you have experienced it personally as a patient, a parent or family member or professionally as a health care provider, these times of transition are often the moments that define a life. Schneider also writes that these moments are "the times that test the soul. Facing loss and experiencing grief can result in profound transformation." (4)

Journey of Hearts - A Place to Share the Sorrow
I have believed for years, it is in the sharing of our losses that our own heart begins to heal. The Journey of Hearts website and the Grief, Loss & Transitions Blog are here to remind visitors that we are not alone in our losses or our feelings of grief, that someone else will have experienced similar losses (or worse) and survived.

Slowly as you begin to recognizes that others have lived through loss and survived then you too will begin to realize that can survive your own loss and live through this life transition.

Coping with Transitions by Sharing the Sorrow
According to a Swedish proverb,

"Shared joy is doubled joy. Shared sorrow is half sorrow."

By sharing we can half the sorrow and feel less alone with the intense feelings of loss or grief that accompany difficult transitions. Therefore, we invite you to half the sorrows by sharing your what worked for you when faced with one of life's difficult "transitions."

Sharing the losses and supporting one another during these challenging times of transition helps the heart grow stronger and more able to cope with life's challenges and helps us to feel less alone in our grief. (5)

Some of my own greatest challenges, the times that tested my soul, I have written about and shared in the NICU Parent Support Blog, most recently reliving our Easter NICU experiences.

More on Grief, Loss & Transitions:
Dyer KA. Loss, Grief, Bereavement and Mourning Defining the Terms. Grief, Loss & Transitions Blog.
Dyer KA. Journey of Hearts - A Source for Grief, Loss & Transitions. Grief, Loss & Transitions Blog.

Our Easter NICU Experiences:
Dyer KA. An Easter Healing Blessing in the Intensive Care Nursery. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. Creating a Circle of Healing and Support. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. An Easter Wish for NICU Parents. Type A Mom Website.

Sources:
1. Definition of Transitions. Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
2. Neeld, EH. 2005. Tough Transitions: Navigating Your Way Through Difficult Times. New York, New York: Warner Books, p.223.
3. Schneider JM. (ed) 2000. Grief's Wisdom: Quotes for Understanding the Transformative Process. Traverse City, Michigan: Seasons Press.
4. Schneider JM. Transforming Consciousness While Embracing Change and Experiencing Grief. John M. Schneider, Ph.D.
5. Dyer KA. 2002. Welcome to A Healing Place. Journey of Hearts.