As I prepare for my talk on 'Wellness Coaching' to the Salisbury Coaching Circle on 25 October, I thought I'd write a poem about wellness. The talk is based on a chapter I've contributed to the inaugural book by the Cancer Coaching Community due publication in 2019. Heather Nichols (my wife) has also contributed a poem, which I include here.
Here are the 2 poems: 'I Want to be Well' and 'Un-wellness Poem'
I want to be Well
When someone says, ‘I want to be
well’,
do we reach for a pill or call the GP?
Do we assume they are ill and want to be fixed?
Or do we take the time to really listen?
What is wellness? What is illness?
Is it universal or a unique experience for each person?
Is it the absence of dis-ease
or is it a state of wellbeing?
Perhaps the clue is in the name:
‘Dis-ease’.
When we are out of balance in some part of our being,
there has to be a reckoning.
Like double entry book keeping,
the cause may be in one area of our being
while the symptom appears in another.
To restore wellness, should we treat
the symptoms or the cause of our dis-ease?
Do we need to look backwards or forwards?
Should we follow the ‘trail of tears’
or the ‘trail of dreams’?
Do we need someone to fix us
or can we find our own way to wellness?
Do we want to be well or is our dis-ease
doing something useful for us?
It’s not straightforward, wellness.
Illness is an easier concept to grasp
and we can always ask a doctor to treat us.
But will this make us well again?
© Ross
Nichols 2018
Unwell
Poem
It’s a struggle, a swirling river.
Pushed and dragged,
hope sweeps you along,
a glimmer of dazzling sun
thrashed against rocks,
left out to dry.
© Heather
Nichols 2018
