Belonging no place, belonging every place

Morning,

This is the beginning of my ‘belonging’ mini series. I thought it would be fun to try something new so for the next four weeks I’m posting poems about belonging, with a prompt for you to reflect on and write on if you’d like.

I’ve opened the chat for you to post your poems or thoughts or other people’s poems on the theme of belonging. The idea of belonging can link to feelings of love, loss and grief, so please don’t censor yourself in what you post thinking that it might not fit. If it belongs to you in some way when you think about belonging then it can belong here!

This is a place to witness our feelings around belonging. It’s more about ‘true’ than polished.

In the video I share my poem ‘I didn’t see me standing there’.

I didn’t see me standing there,

I was hiding in plain sight.

I sought acclaim for intellect,

Scrawling what others would have me write.

I didn’t know my voice was

Here

It had been all bushel and no light

But then my pen began to move

And

I

Began to write.

It’s really a poem about masking who you are, without even being aware of it. For me, writing was a helpful process in my recognising my ‘I’ - my identity, my Self, but the very first step was that witnessing of the difference between who I was presenting and the many parts of who I actually was.

1. Describe the ‘you’ you didn’t see standing there. How would you describe how they were presenting to the world?

2. Which part of you did you not see ‘standing there’? Describe their experience - weere they hiding, dancing, shifting, flitting?

3. What were you seeking validation for - how did you do this and how did it make you feel? Use the feelings wheel below to help.

I've opened our belonging space in chat - come and drop your thoughts and poems!

Join the belonging chat

I’d also love to read any poems that you have already written about this or any poems written by other people that really hit the mark for you when thinking about belonging.

One last thing before we begin sharing in the chat.

If something someone shares resonates with you, please do say so. A simple this resonates with me! is great

Let’s just witness what’s true for someone else and let them know it connects with you. This is to help people feel confident to share. Many times people may have tried to speak up but found it difficult for fear, or experience of responses.

Hope to see you in the chat!

Jacky ✨