De Inspiratie van Catherine Penney
Mijn zoektocht naar een alternatieve weg in de GGZ leidde me in 2010 o.a. naar Catherine Penney Haar gedicht The Window is het zaadje voor deze website. Cathy bewijst dat een leven zonder medicatie mogelijk is, zelfs na een zware diagnose. Dit proces is uitvoerig beschreven in het boek Dante's Cure – A Journey Out of Madness van psychiater Daniel Dorman. Ook is zij hoofdfiguur in de documentaire 'Take These Broken Wings' van Daniel Mackler, die ook het zelf-helpboekje 'From trauma to enlightenment' schreef.
Voor mij was Catherine meer dan een voorbeeld; haar woorden werden mijn houvast. Haar gedichten — 'The Window', 'Morning Song' en 'Emergence' — werden mijn trouwe metgezellen. Later kwam 'Transmigrations' erbij. Zij brachten niet alleen hoop, maar gaven ook taal aan mijn eigen reis.
E M E R G E N C E
Dancing to escape the poverty of a future of broken dreams
Her childhood fantasies afire with glimmering fairies
Moving, swaying to the beat of an enchanted world unseen,
Unexplored, uncharted, insistent in its beckoning call to know
What is unknown. The spirit of one so drawn into the hidden
World of the soul's delight must with caution approach the mystery
Lest she descend back into mind's darker realms leaving her
Chosen path behind. Not shame nor fear of growth deters her
resolve nor determination to lay down ghosts of seasons past
Once kicking, fighting, resisting, to their well deserved eternal
Rest. With each awakening breath her heart quickens it's beat,
Quietness gives rise to chatter. The serpent emerges in full regalia
And the ancient dialogue begins again. Visions has she standing
Alone and naked bridging a landscape of the most treacherous terrain.
Navigating stormy waters, oceans and seas tumultuous rising,
Mountains and valleys blending into one. Elusive is the tranquility slumbering
Within the belly of the beast. Solitude once so invasive is now embraced
Giving voice to the song emerging from her depths.
The land of people, venturing into new territory, hidden once but not unseen
By the inner eye's curious glance; the child retreats the woman advances
And daybreak dawns casting it's light through the haunted Glen.
'Treacherous' refers to insecure footing and-or something that is untrustworthy / unreliable. "Terrain' refers to a ground or tract of ground that is considered with regard to its natural features.
'Haunted Glen' refers to the path we take in life, in which echo’s from our past may visit us. The difference being is that now they are in ghost form and we are not frightened by their occasional appearances because we have grown in mind, body, and spirit, and are able to let them go instead of remaining attached to them.
The important thing is to not lose faith in yourself and to try to be with people who are supportive of your journey...
Hope all is going well for you.
God Bless,
Cathy
