I've been having a bit of a bad time again recently. Can't you tell? The posts seem to have tailed off again. I know that when I go for psychotherapy on Friday I am going to be asked if there is a reason for it, and I think that I am going to have to say that I don't know that there is.
Mental well-being is a strange thing. If you can find a reason for why you are not feeling at your best then you can usually do something to help raise your spirits a little or take your mind off how bad you are feeling. But if you are not aware of what is causing you to feel 'down' it can be very hard to find that little something that will make your day brighter.
I try to keep busy. I look to various crafts to while away the hours. Knitting can be great if the pattern isn't too complicated. You can tell yourself to get to the next important stage in the pattern and as long as that goal isn't too far away, you can reach it and go past that point without thinking about what is wrong with your life.
When working on a cross stitch picture I try to work on a particular area so that a bit more of the overall picture is obvious on the needlework. It can make a significant difference as I shade in squares on the picture key and see the design start to come to life. There are particular designs that I like to sew. One series that I particularly enjoy is of a little bear called Newton. I have a number of these pictures completed now, and several more waiting to be sewn, but so far only one has been framed. Soon I am going to have to sort some out and take them to the local framer so that I can have a selection of these jolly little pictures hanging on the walls around me. Newton is a bit of a philosopher so as well as being pictures of a little bear in often unfortunate situations, each picture has a little adage embroidered on it. They can make me smile.
Another subject that I love to embroider is poppies. Although for many the poppy has sad connotations, I think poppies are happy flowers. For me, one of the most beautiful sights in the world is a mass of bright red heads in a field of corn, or blowing in the wind on a grassy verge. I suppose it is the frailty of the flower that makes it so appealing. Tissue-paper thin petals that last for such a short time but which fight against everything surrounding them in order to show themselves in their full glory.
I suppose that I am a bit like a poppy. Fragile so much of the time, but fighting my way through life so that I can, just once in a while, stand with my head held proud and show the world that I am still here and that no matter what makes my life difficult, I will rise over it as best I can.
4 comments:
I've cross stitched lots of Newton Bear too!
I love poppies too. There is something so desperately frail about them too but the colour is just so vivid and so very bright.
Take care.
Hello My Little Poppy. So apt. What a lovely, well articulated post, as was your previous one. You see there is information there just waiting to be put into print. As I've said before, don't worry that you don't post every day because wharver you do post resonates with so many other people. Keep well and be strong. :-))
Heh Reminds me of all the times I've said to my Therapist: 'If I knew that then I'd probably be able to fix it.'
So easy to miss the forest for the trees, and the trees for being distracted by the large brown bear wanting to eat your picnic!
P.S. Poppies rock :)
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