For many who’ve gone through a traumatic or stressful time in life, all forms of art including film, music, literature, and poetry can be an incredibly important part of their healing process.
Artistic expression speaks to the spirit and inspires a sense of universal belonging and resilience that helps trauma survivors transcend the often overwhelming symptoms of trauma.
There are many poems that I share with clients depending on where they are in their process. Here is one of my favorites that has spoken to many over the years. Enjoy!
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
~ by Mary Oliver
