Wellness thoughts – October 16
What's your story? On Tuesday of this week, I was sitting in my office at SMS (still not
totally fully unpacked yet) and looked at a poem I have on my bulletin board. It gave
me the idea for this week's wellness thoughts. I have used this poem numerous times in
counselling with students during my time as a Wellness Worker.
One of the things that I love about counselling and therapy… what I mean to say is
being able to help others in counselling and therapy! Although, some might argue that
I'm in huge need of some therapy, but that's a story for another time.
But, I digress, therefore back to my thoughts for this week. One of the things I love
about it, is the connection that counselling has to our Indigenous ways of being.. the
idea of our lives being stories, stories with back stories (our histories, our culture) stories
of pain and trauma, of joy and love, stories that can be retold and reshaped (our future
stories of ourselves, of who we want to become.) One of the myriads of therapeutic
models in use today, while lesser known, but not lesser valued, is called Narrative
therapy. One of the underlying premises of Narrative Therapy is that people come with
their stories – stories of how they got to where they are; stories of their problems, but
that the problem isn't them, the problem is the problem! In Narrative Therapy, when a
person can understand the story, they can begin to understand how they can change
the story. They can become the narrator of their new story.
Enough theory for one day, let me tell you about a poem that you have probably read
before, one that I have used with numerous students over the years to help re-shape
their own stories.
The story behind the poem is about a Jewish high school student, named Chanie Gorkin
who in 2014 had a teacher who gave the class an assignment to write a poem about the
"Worst day in their life."
Chanie wrote a complex poem on the topic. When you read the poem in its natural
progression, it shouts out as the musings of a pessimistic sixteen-year-old about the
angst of life.
But this was no ordinary sixteen-year-old, and not your average poem!
In 2014, Chanie was a student at the all-girls Beth Rivkah High School in Brooklyn.
Chanie belongs to the Orthodox Hassidic branch of Judaism. Her poem reflects the
Judaic idea that it's possible to control how we see the world, whether negatively or
positively: She said "I don't think there is such a thing as the worst day ever... I wanted
to show how your day is really based on how you look at things."
This thought echo's Narrative Therapy ideals and seems to run parallel to Indigenous
thought and ways of being.
Within a few years, Chanie's poem had been tweeted and re-tweeted thousands of
times and shared over social media and became as they say… viral.
If this poem is new to you, then read it slowly and let its message sink in. If you have
read it before, even helped it become viral, enjoy again
Worst Day Ever?
by Chanie Gorkin
Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don't try to convince me that
There's something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
The world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don't last.
And it's not true that
It's all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one's surroundings are good
It's not true that good exists
I'm sure that you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It's all beyond my control
And you'll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day
Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,
And see what I really feel about my day.
What's your story? Are you reading it one way, or should it be read the other way around?
Have the best weekend (ever!)