Photo Credit: Devon Gillott Sessions
I close
my eyes
and there
I see,
a patchwork
of the
people who
blanket
me.
One of the things that can happen when we take to our beds is an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. Whether we have isolated ourselves too much or even if we are surrounded by people all the time, we can still feel alone in this. This is the month, when we turn our thoughts to the positive people who are in our life, have been in our lives and those passing miracle, people who pop up out of the blue at just the right time. This is our time to focus on the people who are there for us and have been there for us, to help us see that net of support that is still there; we have just forgotten how to feel it.
I would like us to try a little exercise together. We are going to make a paper quilt. First take a piece of paper and divide it up into squares – just like the cloth pieces of a quilt. The first thing we are going to do is to draw ourselves in one of the squares near the centre. This can have your name, a stick figure, a shape, a swirl – anything that helps you make the mental note of "there I am". Next I want you to start filling the squares around you with anyone that is close to you right now who is a bright spark in your week – a partner, a family member, a friend. Think outside the box too; a kind mum during drop off, a co-worker who makes you laugh, a friendly coffee server or a helpful neighbor. Just keep filling those squares with anyone who comes to mind who has brightened your every day, or your week or your recent months.
Once you have exhausted those squares you are going to move outward and add all those people who you no longer live close to, but who would support you in a heartbeat. Family who live far away, childhood friends, college friends, old work colleagues. Who have you collected in your experiences along the way that have helped to shape your today? Who could you connect with immediately and with ease if you lived closer? Keep on filling those squares.
The next squares are for those people in your life who have been your guardian angels at random stages. I really enjoy remembering these people and once you start you will be amazed at how many angels you have met along the way. They deserve a square in your support network for what they did for you, but they also serve as a reminder that people will pop up in your life over and over to help you at times of need. It has happened before and it will happen again. I have special teachers, a manager of one of my first jobs, people when I travelled who all went above and beyond to help me at different times of my life. Who took a kind interest in me when I needed the guidance and support. These are people who I won’t ever see again, but who made their own special mark on and in me.
This next one is hard, but important. I would like us to fill up more squares that honour and remember the people in our lives we have loved and lost. These people still live inside us and their support when they were here is strongly imbedded, even though it hurts to be reminded. These are the special people in our lives who still play a very important part in this amazing paper fabric that is unfolding.
So lastly, as you look at all these people who have made you, held you by the hand, made you laugh, made you tea and done all the great things that they have done, I want you to also look at some empty squares. These squares are there to symbolise our faith that people do always come to help, support, befriend and love us. We need to make room for our special people of the future.
I hope after this little paper exercise you are feeling a little amazed at who is really in your life!
We may feel by ourselves, but we are far from alone.
We are in fact part of a much bigger picture, that is sewn together with strong threads of support and comfort.
This is our network, these are our people and stitched together they are always there to keep us warm when we need.
Wrap up this month.
Happy April.