Therapy #1 - See Paris First

Last year when too many triggers reopened deep traumatic wounds for me, I began to recognize the need to address issues that were leaking into my life in very unattractive and unwelcome ways. As I tentatively began this journey a fellow blogger, Janet from Mid-Life Clarity and Boychick (I really do miss her voice) sent me this poem by M. Truman Cooper:

Suppose that what you fear
could be trapped,
and held in Paris.
Then you would have
the courage to go
everywhere in the world.
All the directions of the compass
open to you,
except the degrees east or west
of true north
that lead to Paris.
Still, you wouldn't dare
put your toes
smack dab on the city limit line.
You're not really willing
to stand on a mountainside
miles away,
and watch the Paris lights
come up at night.
Just to be on the safe side,
you decide to stay completely
out of France.
But then danger
seems too close
even to those boundaries,
and you feel
the timid part of you
covering the whole globe again.
You need the kind of friend
who learns your secret and says,
"See Paris first."

Last year I took my first wobbly steps of that journey by writing a little bit about that event and its aftermath, albeit hiding behind the anonymity of this blog. This year I am resolved to “See Paris first”.

I invite you to come along.