Ocean & Dreams is a specific collection of facet poems, related to a difficult journey in life. It looks to depict a range of interconnecting battles, for example, chronic pain, depression, love, relationships and recovery, as well as looking at a variety of positive measures for recovery, with a touch of fun in there to. I hope it covers and appeals to broad spectrums of life.In part, the area self reflection identifies hurt. It seeks to identify ways of learning how to manage challenging conditions that can make a life almost too difficult to deal with. These poems try to place as positive as possible an insight into truly debilitating experiences. Whilst highlighting a new found love affair for poetry that has most certainly helped to save my life.Poetry for me has had the most profound effect! Many will recognise their own struggles with Mental Health conditions. The debilitating nature of illness that test's every inch and fibre of your wellbeing. The struggles people have to be recognised and diagnosed properly, whilst suffering from 'Invisible Illnesses'. It's a heartbreaking battle of loss, independence, self worth and efficacy. Life becomes the greatest challenge, an exhausting, comprehensive battle to find any balance in life.In this book these poems describe many scenarios of that struggle, compromise and difficulties. In my own way I try to make sense of this in the best way I know how to. I describe how poetry has allowed me to extrinsically place what's internal, in front of me through poetry. By doing this I have learned degrees of patterns, insight and values that I hold now so dear. I see how keeping depression to oneself has taken cost on twenty five years of my life. How holding on and not talking to the right people caused physical and emotional pain that has left deep scars. Although I learned much from that time, I was not prepared for the further challenge of chronic pain, a lifelong battle that I expect to carry now with me through existing life. However, in these times of difficulty I can truly say that I have learned so much about life, perspective, love, dreams etc. Through the medium of poetry, mindfulness, nature and my love of the ocean I have learned how to express life in a very different way, a more patient, closer understanding of a simpler and more fruitful path. Life has become much clearer to me now. Helping me to implement distraction coping mechanisms that better allow me more expression with passion, for which I'm eternally grateful.I don't wish this upon anybody, but I hope some will recognise certain things from their own struggles and find even the smallest percentage of hope. Hope can truly keep you going. With hope I see a way of pushing back just a little the dark cloud's that hover.