Invictus

 Following a conversation earlier this week with some Druid chums about positive thinking I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. Hands up I can be a bit of a doom merchant, glum bum call it what you will but I am exceptionally good at spending a lot of time inside my head catastrophising and being really rather upleasant to myself. It's a terrible habit which creates a vicious cycle of worry, panic and not sleeping which then exacerbates the issue. At times I have mastered it and beaten the bugger into submission but at other times my good intentions slip and it creeps back in insidiously. I'm barely aware of it until mayhem ensues except that I need to remember that I'm in charge. I've been much more observant of spiralling thoughts this week and have had some small successes.

This reminder that I'm responsible for my thoughts has put me in mind of my all time favourite poem Invictus . Whenever I read this I always draw immense strength, hope and courage from these words.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged the punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley.

Arilx