Symbols

Recently when asked to pick two symbols off a large table full of random objects and explore their meaning, I chose the following two. Here is my shared reflection.

The driftwood is like a lifelong symbol, it is the hard resilient bit that has been battered, caressed, floated and worn away by the lifestreams of time. To me it represented how I see myself, the ups and the downs of like have had their toll but they have shaped me into who I am. Not pretty, but still unique and original and importantly still in the process of being shaped by the elements.

The second symbol is paperbark, it is perhaps more about how I feel in the here and now; particularly when depressive episodes are at their strongest. It represents times perhaps like now where the only compensation for the fine fragility of each layer… is that there is another layer beneath, and another, and another.. protecting the heartwood.