In Good and Bad Mental Health

 

In good mental health my poet’s heart sings

In bad mental health my hands just wring

 

In good mental health I smile and create

In bad mental health I scowl and I hate

 

In good mental health I fly and I soar

In bad mental health I fear I’m a bore

 

In good mental health I will face the task

In bad mental health I will wear a mask

 

In good mental health I have capability

In bad mental health I have disability

 

In good mental health I think I’m a writer

In bad mental health I am a prize-fighter

 

In good mental health I have credibility

In bad mental health I have durability

 

My mental health is good today

For me to share and show the way!

I woke up on a morning bright

With snow laden trees gleeming bright

The silence, silence everywhere

But church bells rang out loud and clear

Across snow crowned trees

And frosty grass but n’er a bee

The snowdrops push their way up high

To greet the day and reach the sky

What better start to a day

Than thinking of your God to pray

For peace on Earth and Love for all

Life calls to me, and I recall

All the majesty of Life

Of living life without  strife

Oh, praise the Peace and Silence too

This is life beckoning you anew.

 

 

I am not bound by calculation, order or reserve,

I am free to be chaotic, inspired and reckless.

 

I am not controlled by order, discipline or symmetry,

I am free to be spontaneous, impulsive and embarrassed.

 

I am not afraid of freedom, thought or intrusions,

I am strong,

I can heal,

I am free.

Being with good mental health, for me, is really very hard to explain
Without people understanding what bad mental health is like.
It’s not just about being happy, there’s more to it than that.

 

Good mental health is the absence of all those destructive thoughts
That make you think your every move is being watched;
That make you avoid going out in the fear that you will be judged.
It’s having the courage to drag yourself out of bed in the morning
To go get that bottle of milk that you have needed for 3 days,
But couldn’t.

 

It’s being able to talk to your family without getting angry,
Simply because they asked you if you were going out to see friends later.
Having good mental health is realising what and, most importantly, who
Is good for you, and having the sense to stay away from what’s bad.
It’s taking back the control you had misplaced and taking responsibility
For yourself.

 

Once it is within your grasp, you regain your clarity of mind
And you can finally start to work out what it is that YOU want to do.
You can work out what YOU truly believe and you can stand for it.
It’s accepting that you’re different and using that to your advantage;
That you ARE interesting and that you DO have something
Important to say.

 

Going from bad mental health to good mental health is rising like a phoenix – wait, no.
It’s like Athena rising, fully grown, with a new divine wisdom;
Armed and ready to fight anything that may stand in your way.

Hear that swish of a tail,

The buzz of a bee,

The post of the mail,

The sound of the sea,
 

Taste the salt in the rain,

The icing of cake,

The new harvested grain,

The chocolate milkshake,

 

See the birds in the sky,

The frost on the leaves,

The rivers running by,

The gently swaying trees,

 

Smell the freshly cut grass,

The seaweed on rocks,

The newly polished brass,

The den of a fox,

Feel that touch of a hand,

The kiss on a cheek,

The smoothness of the sand,

The mud under feet,

 

You are all these senses,

All that you do find,

Past, present, future tenses,

All part of your mind.

 

Jade collects a handmade hardback book

She will be presented with this at the House of Lords on the 1st May 2013

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

Her work will feature in The Yellow Book going nationwide

 

Selected Poetry Entries for The Yellow Book please click the titles to view:

 

 

1. I Feel Life – Ella Zellaby – Rochester Kent
2. This World – Stephanie Rose – Bo’ness Scotland
3. Lift Your Voice – David Holloway – Bedford
4. Mirror – Saiqa Parveen – Halifax
5. With Good Mental Health – Anne Broadbent – West Yorkshire
6. Meadering – Peter McGrath – Essex
7. Senses – Jade Tullet – Berkshire
8. The Wren – Ian Curtress – Cheltenham
9. Recovery – Lesley Burt – Dorset
10. A Home in my Head – Karen Mason – Surrey
11. Freedom is Ours – Gemma Rose – East Sussex
12. Beauty – Debee Ebeneezer – Nottingham
13. It is Ok – Suzanne Bate – Liverpool
14. Happiness is Gratitude – Lisa Barry – Rhondda Cynon Taft
15. I’ve Changed – Louise Gillett – Christchurch Dorset
16. Sunny Side Up – Karim Harvey – London
17. Proud to be me – Denise Claxton – Essex
18. Daylight after Rain – John Campbell – London
19. I Can See The Colour and I Can Feel The Sun – Elizabeth Aldous – Luton
20. Free To Be Me – Diana Hayes – Abergavenny
21. Bus Journey – Safoora Masood – Halifax
22. There Once Was a Young Girl From Wales – Katy Young – Flintshire
23. See the Flowers Beneath Your Feet – Anonymous
24. I Know – Kauser Parveen – Halifax

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

They called me ‘mental’, ‘mad’ and ‘trippy’

but they didn’t care to see 

to push past their own perceptions and learn about what was bothering me.

Never making the grade, never conforming to normality

I once considered it a curse

now I relise I am free.

I think and I feel

I experience pain

I reflect on my being through its joys and it shame.

I know myself through and through and

in this knowladge comes truth.

 

Never think your mad, never think your bad

never think your nothing

forgive yourself when you’re sad.

You feel therefore you live

You breathe therefore you are

A universe in a dream

Within dark forests you are a star. 

 

 

 

Mirror
 
I looked in the mirror for the first time
In years
I surveyed my face
Aged, tired, still supple
Every wrinkle told a story
I picked the jar of cream up
Read the label
Opened it
Applied the cream to my face
Carefully
First time
In years
I liked what I saw
I liked what I felt
I felt me again
I felt good

 

 

Saiqa collects an iPad and a handmade hardback book

She will be presented with these at the House of Lords on the 1st May 2013

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

 

Her work will feature in the book going nationwide

Her poem will be recorded in spoken word to create the B-side to the refuge single release

 

We would like to say a huge thank you to Advance for generously donating the iPad prize

 

 

 

Selected Poetry Entries for The Yellow Book please click the titles to view:

 

 

1. I Feel Life – Ella Zellaby – Rochester Kent
2. This World – Stephanie Rose – Bo’ness Scotland
3. Lift Your Voice – David Holloway – Bedford
4. Mirror – Saiqa Parveen – Halifax
5. With Good Mental Health – Anne Broadbent – West Yorkshire
6. Meadering – Peter McGrath – Essex
7. Senses – Jade Tullet – Berkshire
8. The Wren – Ian Curtress – Cheltenham
9. Recovery – Lesley Burt – Dorset
10. A Home in my Head – Karen Mason – Surrey
11. Freedom is Ours – Gemma Rose – East Sussex
12. Beauty – Debee Ebeneezer – Nottingham
13. It is Ok – Suzanne Bate – Liverpool
14. Happiness is Gratitude – Lisa Barry – Rhondda Cynon Taft
15. I’ve Changed – Louise Gillett – Christchurch Dorset
16. Sunny Side Up – Karim Harvey – London
17. Proud to be me – Denise Claxton – Essex
18. Daylight after Rain – John Campbell – London
19. I Can See The Colour and I Can Feel The Sun – Elizabeth Aldous – Luton
20. Free To Be Me – Diana Hayes – Abergavenny
21. Bus Journey – Safoora Masood – Halifax
22. There Once Was a Young Girl From Wales – Katy Young – Flintshire
23. See the Flowers Beneath Your Feet – Anonymous
24. I Know – Kauser Parveen – Halifax

 

Congratulations from all of us at !!

When I am well
 
 
 
When I am well
I engage in life
When I am well
I comply with medication
When I am well
I get out of bed
When I am well
I eat better
When I am well
I sleep better
When I am well
I embrace life
When I am well
I am at peace with the world
 
 

 

 With good mental health I have….

 

‘To admit defeat,’ says the demon of depression,

 

‘I lived inside your body for so long,

 

You’d even forgotten that there was a real YOU underneath it all,

 

As long as you believed the lie I told, you thought YOU were a failure,

 

You were convinced YOU would never be good enough,

 

You felt YOU could never get out of the deep pit you were in’

 

And, you kept feeding me with more and more YOURSELF

 

Even your small setbacks seemed to be replayed inside your head a million times,

 

Till they felt like the biggest catastrophes,

 

You lost confidence in YOURSELF,

 

I made you believe that – that’s my job

 

The demon who feeds on human happiness.

 

You were wearing my glasses…

 

The kind that only let you see the rain and not the rainbow through it….

 

 

And, then, one day YOU made a choice to change

 

YOU started to attend therapy sessions,

 

Started to look for a place to anchor

 

Your faith, your long imprisoned talents,

 

I knew then that I was fighting a losing battle….

 

To my ‘You are not good enough’

 

YOU soon learnt the truth

 

YOU are good enough-

 

Good enough to be called

 

A caring friend, a helpful neighbour

 

A good human being….

 

 

The day you turned around and told me

 

There would be the rain…

 

But the important thing was to focus on the rainbow,

 

You had discovered the truth-

 

YOU had been put on earth for a purpose

 

YOU looked upward to renew your faith

 

YOU looked sideward to connect with old friends

 

YOU looked outward for a new hobby, a new job

 

YOU looked downward to encourage someone still in the depths of despair

 

YOU looked inward to find the real YOU.

 

I knew then you were on your road to recovery-

 

to having good mental health…

 

And, I knew that I couldn’t feed off you anymore…