A Poem for Emotion Awareness Day

Happy Emotion Awareness Day!  To mark the day, Lou Cooper has just released a special episode of the Emotion-Focused Podcast, consisting of an interview with me. I wrote an emotion-focused poem for the occasion, which I read at the end of the interview. If you want to hear the interview & poem, you can go to: https://www.emotionfocused.com/episodes/interview-robert3

My poems always evolve over time, especially at the beginning, so here is a further iteration of this poem:

 

There are so many days

For so many things:

Thousands!

Here are just a few:

World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day (June 1st)

Love Conquers All Day (June 3rd)

            *          *          *

So why not a day

Sandwiched between these two?

Emotion Awareness Day (June 2nd).

A day to let us feel our feelings,

To sit, still, with our emotions.

 

After all, our emotions remind us

That we are alive.

 

To celebrate our emotions

Is to celebrate being alive.

 

As mortal, temporary,

Fleetingly fragile living beings,

We measure our mortality a day at time:

Every day is a gift

And every emotion is a gift, because

It tells us something important

About this day

And about ourselves.

            *          *          *

What emotions do you feel

On this day?

 

Sadness for those who are far away,

Or who have passed before us,

Who we miss

And long to see again?

 

Fear about our own passing,

The final ending of all our many days?

 

Our anxiety at the million small worries

That distract us from the one big fear?

 

Happiness or joy,

In the company of those we love

And laugh together with,

The easy freeing feeling

From all those wars and worries?

 

Pride in our accomplishments,

Great or small?

Private or public?

 

Anger that flashes, righteous,

At the injustice around us,

That makes a boundary,

That says, this far

And no further?

 

Guilt or shame,

For mistakes and harm done,

Big or small,

Witting or unwitting,

To those we love?

That seeks self-understanding and compassion,

Even if forgiveness is too much to ask?

            *          *          *

What emotions are with you today?

Maybe you or I

Could take five or ten minutes

From our busy day

Ask this question, today,

And maybe every day.

 

            -25 May – 2 June 2024, Pleasanton, California