When I started out as a mental health practitioner, I had no idea that my personal journey of healing, transformation and awakening would be so central to the work I do. I could only help clients as much as I had done the work on myself.
Little did I also know that this work was a two-way street – as much as I thought I was helping my clients; they were helping me!
In journeying with my clients; I’ve often had startling insights about myself (sometimes not so pleasant!), and gained a much deeper understanding of our shared spiritual experiences as a human race.
My journey of understanding myself has led me to write my new book of poems – Meet me where the Sea touches the Sky.
This book is a reflection on the universal spiritual themes that we all experience in our lives – whether as clients, therapists or observers.
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Through the language of poetry, I explore the nuances of love and loss, fear and yearning, hurting and healing, hope and despair – polarities we all experience every day of our lives; waves we all ride to somehow keep persisting in this journey of life.
Poem – The Pandemic Years
In the poem, ‘The Pandemic Years’, for instance, I’ve explored the themes of loss, loneliness and isolation; and the new ways we found to cope, survive and even enjoy our lives, despite all of that.
“Between the waves,
a lot of us traded our journeys
of roads and highways,
trains and airplanes,
coffee shops and museums for
discovering ourselves
in startlingly new ways
and adventuring the
peaks and valleys of
our existence.”
Poem – Everyday Yogis
In ‘Everyday Yogis’, I reflect on the many roles that a woman dons in one lifetime; what it means to live life while balancing the roles of a mother, spouse and a working woman, and the immense spiritual growth that takes place every single day.
“Does not the everyday
push-and-pull with
your partner
compel you to
learn about enmeshment;
standing your own ground,
and finding your unshakeable
centre?”
…are we not everyday yogis,
you and I…
the ones who stay back,
and earn our stripes
of spiritual growth;
our badges of enlightenment
every vibrant, wholesome
moment at a time,
with all the intense
pain, tears
frustration and laughter
it brings?
Poem – All our parts
In ‘All our parts’ I explore what it means to accept the polarities of our lives; our defences as well our optimistic selves; our darkness as well as our light…and I question whether one would indeed exist without the other.
“Imagine if we were held
for our happiness as
much as our pain;
darkness as much as our light,
sadness as much as our anger;
confidence as
much as our shame.“
Would you have written
that sad story, if your heart
hadn’t broken to pieces
that lonely summer?
If you hadn’t seen illness,
would you celebrate
the lives that once were?
…imagine where would you be;
and where would I be;
where would we all be
without the company of all
our beautiful parts?”
Poem – Physis
Having trained for many years in different modalities of psychology, one of the realisations that stood out for me the most is the capacity of the human spirit for growth and ascent; that fighting spirit; that ability to surge upwards when we hit rock bottom – that need to realise our potential even when we are unsure.
Read ‘Physis‘ if and when you need that reminder that you have it in you to power through.
“Perhaps your bruised heart
and battered knees
are your badges of honour,
the wind in your hair
your battle cry;
–and the path you walk
a beacon to
someone’s dark night.“
“Perhaps
today you can sit on the shore;
and shed the effort of
doing more and more.
You’ll rise, despite the
effort of living,
you’ll kiss the sun
with or without your striving.”
I hope you will enjoy exploring these themes with me, and know that you, dear reader, are not alone in your journey of life…whether it is the waves you ride, the sky you touch, the rock bottom you hit and everything in-between.
You are not alone in your persistence; in your doubts and fears. In your hope and despair, in your pain and celebration; you are not alone.
And so, in reading this book, I hope that you find that space where life is a little bit of everything… a space where the sea touches the sky.
About the book and author
The book Meet me where the Sea touches the Sky is available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions.
Meet Me Where the Sea Touches the Sky is Krithika Akkaraju’s first book, a collection of poems written during the pandemic years, exploring themes of love and loss, fear and yearning, hurting and healing.
Krithika is the founder of Lighter Living Therapy, Bangalore, a space for trauma-informed counselling, psychotherapy, and holistic mental health. She lives in Bangalore with her husband, two children and three cats.
Read more about Krithika in her profile on this page. You can reach out to her on: Instagram @ lighter_living_therapy.
Krithika Akkaraju is on the Counsellor & Psychotherapist panel on InfinumGrowth and available for online consultations.
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