Kind Self

Found poetry for April 17, 2022 National Poetry Month Poetry Challenge

“Self-criticism is often seen as a virtue. But psychologist Kristin Neff says there’s a better path to self-improvement — self-compassion. She says people who practice self-compassion are more conscientious and more likely to take responsibility for their mistakes” in the Hidden Brain episode, “Being Kind to Yourself” that forms the text for found poetry today.

Deviate Slightly

Take the wrong turn off
fumble a presentation
making a mistake

kick yourself see as
heroic be noble it’s
the shortest path to

self-improvement reach your goals

Do you make mistakes and let them go? Are you eager to try a new adventure? poetry by Kimberly Burnham Photo by hang niu on Unsplash

The Basketball

Let it go
the basketball went out of bounds
the other team caught the ball
scored on you
so what
this moment after the turn over
is too important to hold on
the past is gone
there is only this moment
play as if you never make mistakes
every moment of every game
especially after you make an error

Photo by Stephen Baker on Unsplash

―Found poems / blackout poetry / erasure haikus by Kimberly Burnham from Hidden Brain podcast interview between Shankar Vedantam and Kristin Neff https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/being-kind-to-yourself/