Haiku Moment

Stormy spring clouds rain

Rejoice the song birds do sing!

In lush sodden greens

 

A Trite Renewal

I must say that my faith in humanity has waxed and waned over the last few weeks.  I feel as though I have unknowingly become a passenger on a horrific, and at times, peaceful rollercoaster ride.

Ride with me, will you? 

The steep accent is exciting, yet fearful as we slowly climb the tracks – look around and for if only a brief moment notice the beauty that is the earth below you.  The others are mingling what now seems so far beneath your feet.   There is an anticipatory – almost eerie silence – as we wait to discover the thrill that will meet us over the hill.  As we reach the summit of the tracks time stands still…..then….with a quick gasp of life breath………click.   We plummet downward, screaming, knuckles white gripping the metal bracing.  Physically we feel the powerful force of gravity push our bodies back against the seats.  Exhilarated, fearful, we attempt to measure the twists, turns, loops around and around.  Yes, this is exciting!  The adrenalin forces through our veins creating a dizzying energy.  The excitement is intoxicating.  Soon this ride will be over, or will it?

This emotional traverse, however cliché it may seem is a continued struggle I skirmish each week although, it often seems the ride never ends.  I commented to a colleague that our days often seem like Groundhog Day (the movie) a repetition of the previous day with little variation.  This colleague gently advised me that in the movie the character experiencing these repetitive days “eventually learned from his mistakes and became a better person.”  OUCH!!  Well I suppose it was my blunder to reveal my selfish troubles to a mental health professional.  Nevertheless, I continued to observe the mêlée of my expectations with sobering veracity of life.

When do things change, people change?  Do these people think I do not see through their thinly veiled attempts at triangulation, manipulation and outright lies?  There may have been a time in my life that I could have “related” to these destructive behaviors, but now I frequently feel weary and out of ideas.  

Simple, yet very accurate statement of the current American population

My giraffe friend and I had a philosophical conversation this afternoon.  I snapped this photo for a memento of the moment. 

 I was informed that this last statement is from the department of redundant redundancy..

The One-Minute Writer: Today's Writing Prompt: Lie

I found an interesting writing blog, aptly labeled The One-Minute Writer.

This blogger concept is use 60 seconds to scribe a brief narration relating to the daily topic provided by the blog’s author. 

My addition is included after the link.

 The One-Minute Writer: Today's Writing Prompt: Lie

A lie I told to someone or to myself……

I lie to myself daily - sometimes by the hour or minute.  I lie to myself about the bizarre, distressing, sorrowful and fearful things I hear each day in my line of work.  I tell myself “I’ve done all I can” or “it’s out of my hands.”  And within this piercing abundance of lies is the soft whispering of my soul that tells me it will be okay tomorrow.

Facebook and the Brain

This evening I made the transition into the social phenomena known as Facebook. Interestingly enough once I discovered “friends” (some of which I have not spoken to for some time) I became absorbed in this electronic process.

Forcing myself to shift gears and redirect my attention I clicked on over to one of my weekly reader blogs, Neuroskeptic. Coincidentally the latest post was about the perils of Facebook, albeit skeptical (as the blogger’s name suggests) but also honest in the opinion that were made about Baroness Susan Greenfield.
The post in its entirety can be located here.

Interesting and valid points made on both sides.

Let us all shovel crap

I read an article in a neo-feminist women’s magazine a few weeks ago in my local hair salon while artificially altering my hair color. The article was titled “Analyze This.. Therapy Pro and Con” Intrigued, but with a smidgen of skepticism I began to explore the editorial. The author (a woman in her early thirties) began by recounting her “pro” experiences with a PhD therapist who, based on the recounting of the sessions, appeared to be more of a reflective, “Rogerianesque” type of clinician. The writer discussed her therapist’s suggestions of sibling jealousy between the financially successful writer and her domestically successful sister. Her narrative itself was mildly interesting with, as expected a poignant ending to the story - discovering that her therapist was, in fact correct in his/her assumptions of the writer’s systemic/family dynamics. If the article had stopped there perhaps that would be been a decent ending to an ordinary but informative story…..but there was more. The four page crap fest continued with a side bar of “Shrink Deal Breakers, find out if you need to dump yours.” This idiotic “list” included such items as “find another therapist if yours blogs, wears a toupee” and my favorite, “has a catchphrase.” I will be the first to admit that not every person that walks into a therapist’s office will develop an instant rapport and become sold on mental health, but to end therapy based on such trivial issues like catchphrases? And how would some neurotic, feminist “journalist” who writes for a women’s magazine be an expert on what makes a good therapist? These were just a few of my concerns about the shallow, arrogant and much uninformed commentary.

I then moved over to another personal story in hopes that I could calm my internal seething. The last portion of the article was written by a 20-something, woman who had participated in psychotherapy for a number of years while residing in a big metropolitan city. This woman’s story was the “therapy con” portion of the article and actually was far more intriguing than the “pro” portion. The woman discussed her life issues, struggles and weekly therapy sessions that seemed to be a requirement of her social circle. After an undisclosed number of years living out her life and making decisions based on a psychoanalyst’s “insights” the woman moved to an animal farm near the outskirts of this city and began a “simple life” of scooping horse dung while contemplating life’s “real issues.” She discussed her innate ability to develop her own brand of insight, problem solving and inner peace all while working with horses and their excretions. I was inspired and amazed at this woman’s ability to take her self-consumed world and look outside of herself to transform her cognitive processes through helping others. This concept is at the heart of what life change and ultimately therapy, is about. In addition to her inspiring story this woman made a statement that was so clear, concise and irreverent I had to read the passage several times to ensure I had grasped the truth in the statement. She wrote, “Some people use therapy to justify their own stagnation.” ABSOLUTELY!!! I could not agree more. In fact, perhaps some people who enter therapy need to be told that this statement may really be the crux of their “issues.” A responsible and ethical therapist will and should let their client’s know when their weekly sessions have become a breeding ground for an idle life. A neurotic, hyper-focus on life issues - irrelevant and perhaps destructive to our cognition is not helpful and probably causes one to truly live their life unexamined.

If shoveling horse manure can allow one to shift their focus from “my mother never loved me enough” to “my mother did the best she could with what she had and it is up to me to stop blaming everyone else for my self-inflicted suffering” then let us all shovel crap – both literally and figuratively.