Inside The Hearts' Walls

By Turtle Shell


This is one of the November 2 meeting's First Lesson poems.

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What I Wish I'd Learned Sooner

There's a voice inside your head
That tells you lies and makes you dread
The vivid thought comes fast as lightning
Tells you which things are good and which are frightening.

Just after perception, before you can blink
The voice flashes through, the first thing you think
Born from reflex without time for logic
Emotion's aroused by a voice demagogic.

No allegory this, the voice I speak of is real
It's there in your head telling you what to feel
But being so fleeting, to most it just isn't apparent
That the emotions it evokes aren't simply inherent.

The voice isn't evil, it's part of how our minds work
But in its speed and obscurity there are dangers that lurk
It can wax hyperbolic on perils that are in reality mild
And in so doing foment fear and send anxieties wild.

The first lesson then is to know, to know that it's there
To know how it works, the effect it has, to just be aware
The voice isn't perfect, it can be right, it can be wrong
And it can be CHANGED, you don't have to just play along.

To catch that lightning voice and make it submit
Is no trivial task, it takes work I'll admit
But the power to take charge of your emotions is yours, in your hand
That is my message, what I want you to understand.