How did you come to write to Be Loved Beloved?
I
was asked to speak at a spirituality event on the subject of love. I have
written hundreds of love poems to God, so I read a selection of poems and
structured the talk around each one of them. Having done so, I thought it would
be lovely to put together this small collection of spiritual love poems.
For
the years when I was severely ill, I wasn’t able to read something heavy and
demanding, yet my resources for sitting up and reading were low, so I wanted
content that had a certain depth or genuinely moved me.
Be Loved Beloved is a small book
designed so that people can really reflect on the poem, the quote and the
release statement, and let it speak to them on a deeper level. Often we cram in
information without really taking it in. This book is designed to encourage the
opposite. The paperback is in a small size; it’s beautiful to just hold it in
your hands and meditate on the words.
We
don't feel able to say “I love you” to every friend, but we may be very clear
that we support them in loving themselves through a difficult time. The idea
was of a small gift book for ourselves or another to encourage someone to reach
out for God’s love and learn to love themselves.
I
have been in a place of finding it hard to love myself and have moved forward.
Others can do the same.
Can you tell us a bit about the illness you've just spoken of?
I
had severe M.E. For 14 years I was unable to feed myself and had to live with a
commode by the bed. I didn't have enough speech to maintain a normal
conversation and was unable to cope with much noise or speech from another
person.
Was it the experience of illness which prompted you to set out to learn to love yourself?
Very
much so. When I got too ill to work, many structures in my life fell apart. My
relationships didn't survive getting ill and my self-identity had been wrapped
up with being busy, being helpful and being defined by certain relationships.
When I lost my health I also lost many self identities. I found it difficult to
feel OK about myself and I reached the point where I acknowledged that my love
for myself had been conditional. I set out to learn to love myself
unconditionally.
Can you give us one tip for learning to love ourselves?
We
have learned to love ourselves only so much and to block out the love of anyone
who offers us something more. In human terms, learning to love ourselves is
therefore a tricky challenge.
God
is love. When we rest in God, we open to a level of love we haven't previously
allowed in. One thing we can do is to practise the belief that there is this
Source, this Presence which is Love itself and that we can access it. We can
then engage in a spiritual practice such as meditating on the quotes about love
in this book. When we allow ourselves to be loved by God, our own self love
naturally follows.
One
of the poems looks at the games we play in relationships to keep love out. It
imagines going beyond all these games to simply allow ourselves to rest in the
knowledge that we are loved and we are part of love itself.
What are some of the games we play to keep love out?
We
might say: “you don't love me, because you don't know me”. But then we don't
let someone know us. We stay shut to the possibility that they might love us
just as we are or, alternatively, to moving on to someone who would do so.
Another
game is to feel compelled by someone who doesn't seem to notice us. Then when
they finally show an interest in us we lose interest in them.
Sometimes you refer to your poems as though-bites or inspirations. Tell us about this.
I
often call my poetry ‘inspirations’, because I consider they were ‘inspired’
which means ‘of the Spirit’. I had no business writing poems at a time when I
couldn’t write (due to muscle fatigue) and could speak very little. Yet I often
received these poems fully formed in my head and dictated them into a
dictaphone. I call them thought-bites since the language can be very simple.
Sometimes the poems are only a few lines long.
Do you feel you have learned to love yourself?
Yes,
I do. The poems in Be Loved Beloved
span a ten year period of my life. They chart my journey to learn to love
myself and hopefully help others to do the same.
I
remember explaining to a friend when I was still severely disabled that I had
reached the point where I loved myself. I explained that it was just like
loving another person. It didn't mean I liked myself all the time, but it did
mean that I had learned to love my own company and seek it out. For 18 years I
spent most of the time in solitude. I had four hours care a day, but most of it
was spent with a carer preparing food or clearing up in another room. Somewhere
during this time, I really learned to love my own company. Now I'm walking and
talking again, I still choose to spend a lot of time on my own.
Having
said that, the journey to learn to love myself still very much continues. My
spiritual view is that everyone we meet reflects back to us a part of ourselves.
When someone irritates us they are presenting us with our shadow self: the part
of us that we’re not acknowledging. My commitment is to learn to extend love
to those who I find challenging so as to continue to learn to love myself and
others.
How did you come across Brit Writers?
I
honestly don’t know, but I am very glad I did. As a result of entering a USA
spiritual author competition two years ago, I have a wonderful network of
spiritual author friends, but most are based in the USA. It is wonderful to
have a British network that celebrates and encourages British authors.
The
publishing industry is going through such a shift right now with the explosion
of self publishing and e-books. It is important to keep abreast of the
different possibilities for publishing as well as to continue on our quest to
improve our writing skills.
Where can people buy Be Loved Beloved?
Be Loved, Beloved, 15
Spiritual Love Poems, God Love, Self Love
42
pages. 11cm x 17.5cm. Published by Symbols Pressed.
On
Kindle UK. Under £1
Paperback.
£4.99.
People
can also learn more about my spiritual journey of healing on my website
Thank you Katherine for talking to us today
You're
welcome.
Thank you so much.
Brit Writers
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