Tuesday 7 August 2018

Fishing Therapy


You might like to share this article on research into PTSD, especially if you have known anyone going through traumatic flashbacks, anxiety etc after being in a terrorist attack, war zone, wild fire, earthquake or any similar trauma.


My father suffered terribly after his experiences in the Navy during World War ll but felt no-one knew how to help, and there must be countless people who suffered as we did from the fall out.
My father spent what little free time he had after his long working hours doing heavy gardening. He would ferociously dig the ground to plant potatoes, make celery trenches, hammer in stakes for a chicken run, and make endless bonfires after pulling up brambles & cutting back hedges.This must have been therapeutic... 

I am so glad to read about this research. I wonder how my father would have taken to fishing...later on I remember he enjoyed taking his rowing boat out along the Colne estuary. It seems as though he needed strong physical exercise to combat his anger over the whole situation. But maybe there is a stage at which the stillness of fishing really helps heal these inner wounds.

What about art therapy ?

there are times when I become aware of working something through as I draw
and times when all I can do with the pain is to try and paint a prayer
                              as in this detail from “Father Forgive” ( see White Crucifixion Revisited )


                            but most of my paintings are done with joy in wonders of the world around us...