Oct122026
Words of WonderSpoil your euology - John Roedel

don’t let your funeral be the first
time people ever hear your true story

~ spoil the eulogy

by wearing your epic adventure like
it’s a fluorescent ball gown every
single day of your existence

your life is a one-hit wonder that
will never be played again in
the history of everything

so don’t hide it as if it
were a B-Side single

I know it’s easy to get bored
of this journey that you are on

but my love,
everything you have

~ overcome
survived
~ lost
celebrated
~ grieved
achieved
~ endured

contains the plot
of one of the most
compelling tales
the universe has
ever known

don’t bury your
story in a shoebox
under your bed
for a eulogist to have
to dig through

embrace your story
like you are the only one
who can tell it

because, my love
you are the only one

by John Roedel

 

This poem has colours for me! The fluorescent ball gown is pink and orange and dances pizazz into me, while the journey back in time across a life story feels like it fades the centre of the poem into the twilight of the past. And then at the end there’s a bursting forth of a warm golden yellow light that radiates out with the final loving invitation:
‘embrace your story
like you are the only one
who can tell it

because, my love
you are the only one’

Mixing these three creates such a compelling cocktail – heartfelt, loving, energetic, forthright, soulful, inclusive.
And I’m so glad that John Roedel has included this line: ‘I know it’s easy to get bored
of this journey that you are on’, because I hear a part of me say that even if I zoom out and look at the whole of my lifeline with all it’s turning points, challenges, triumphs and discoveries, it still seems a little un-glorious. Not so much a story of flair or flamboyance.

But I’m left curious. I don’t fully believe the doubtful voice. I want to be swept up in John’s invitation, I know in my heart the golden-glow-feel of fully owning and celebrating the story of my life. I can see that it has its own exquisite singularity. Can you see this in your story?

Fay Adams

Ps. Please join us for a deliciously rich voyage through the gifts poetry can give us, when received mindfully. We’ll include words of wisdom from poets past and present and from many different traditions as well as those who don’t subscribe to any tradition. Expect the likes of Mary Oliver, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Rumi, Hafiz, John O’Donohue and more. Mindfulness Meets Mystical Poetry is a 6-week course that takes place at 7 PM GMT/ 3 PM EDT/ 12 PM PDT and begins on the 4th November 2026.

Photo by Sunira Moses on Unsplash

Tags: 

Author: Fay Adams

Fay Adams trained to teach mindfulness under the guidance of well-known teacher Rob Nairn, whilst living on the Holy Isle retreat island off the west coast of Scotland. She now teaches courses and retreats in mindfulness, compassion, insight, and mindfulness and poetry with the Mindfulness Association and she is a tutor on the University of Aberdeen’s Studies in Mindfulness MSc. Fay has been a dedicated meditation practitioner since 2006. She is a mindfulness supervisor and a teacher trainer. She is also a coach who brings unconditional mindful acceptance to her clients and helps people to nurture a mindfulness, compassion or self-development practice that is meaningful, sustainable, enjoyable and transformative. Fay was originally drawn to mindfulness in her twenties because of her chronic pain. Throughout her 6 years of living on Holy Isle in a small meditation hut, she immersed herself in discovering what the pain was all about. In the process she began to find a new way to inhabit mind, body and community. Ultimately, mindfulness has, as well as freeing her from the pain, become a deeply rich basis for living life fully. Fay now lives in Herefordshire with her partner and son.