Delicate Equilibrium

No matter what mental model or religion we use to help us frame and map out our lives, the ability to use the imagination is tantamount to being able to thrive during the third stage of life.  Albert Einstein said “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

I’m not saying that we don’t need knowledge or facts.  I’m saying that we need both.  The third stage of life is challenging for everyone.  Being able to draw freely upon your imagination is like a taking breath of fresh air after being cooped up all winter.  It changes the way you feel in body and Soul.   It gives you eyes that see and ears that hear.

So my questions to you are – do you use your imagination, or has it atrophied in favor of hard cold facts? Do you give yourself time to dream, to reinvent and rejuvenate yourself through creative activities and/or downtime?  Do you know how to play or amuse yourself in ways that require little or no money? If you don’t, do you have the courage to begin to explore?

In Peace,

Nance

Not everyone has pleasant past holiday memories.   The holiday archetype is loaded with a complex mix of cultural expectations made especially difficult this year given the current economic crisis.  In order to thrive during the holiday season, it important to separate the personal experience from an impersonal event.  If we allow the personal past to contaminate the present, then we are indeed enduring the holidays.  But if we can find a seat at the table as author Will Boast did in his New York Times op-ed piece, we can indeed thrive instead of endure this year’s holiday season.  This morning I leave you with this well known Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Peace,

Nance

Lake Ponchartrain

There are so many beautiful natural sites in and around New Orleans tourists don’t often take advantage of because of the pull of the French Quarter.  One of my favorite places in the world is Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.  The picture in this post was taken today.  The sailboats in the background are out of the Southern Yacht Club, the second oldest yacht club in the United States.  It was destroyed by Katrina as was everything around the West End harbor on the south shore of this 630 sq. mile brackish estuary that eventually connects to the Gulf of New Mexico via the Rigolets strait.

There are numerous reasons why I choose to spend most of my time living in New Orleans, mild winters on this Lake being one of the main ones.  Next time you find yourself visiting our fair city, make a point to leave the Quarter and make your way to this wonderful natural site.  There is only one restaurant so far (Landry’s), but we’re hoping to see more as entrepreneurs begin to take the risk to rebuild in this area.

In Peace,

Nance

It was during this stressful time that I became an open book, going to anyone and everywhere looking for a cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis.  (Click here to read a creative writing piece about that time.) Finally one day when I was feeling particularly desperate I googled the word ‘healing’ and came across the following DH Lawrence poem:

Healing

I am not a mechanism, an assembly of various sections.
And it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill.
I am ill because of wounds to the soul, to the deep emotional self
and the wounds to the soul take a long, long time, only time can help
and patience, and a certain difficult repentance
long, difficult repentance, realization of life’s mistake, and the freeing oneself
from the endless repetition of the mistake
which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify.

For me finding this poem was what Jung called a synchronicity where acausal events (googling and my illness) collide together causing an internal shift in consciousness or awareness. It is too personal and complicated to go into a longer explanation. Suffice it to say, that it began a personal experiment with the healing capacity of the Arts as an everyday artist.  By the Arts, I mean storytelling, poetry, music, dance, visual arts, painting, sculpture, singing, woodworking, blogging, etc., anything and everything that allows us to give expression to our experiences with illness.

Over the years I have written poetry and essays that reflect my personal struggles in coming to terms with the mystery of healing versus cure. My professional experiences, study and research have proven to me that the creative process of making art has the capacity to unite mind, body and spirit.  Although I occasionally work with professional artists, singers and actors, I do not consider this population to be the only ones who can make art.  Any one can make Art.  Anyone can reclaim their right to give creative expression to their experience of the human condition.  Whether or not it sells is beside the point.

When counseling clients living with chronic illness, I encourage them to write, draw, paint or sing out those deep feelings that can’t be accessed through the intellect.  If clients claim not to be creative, I have them share music, film and other art forms that touch their Souls.  In this way I gain access to the images and feeling tones that help me assist them in bringing meaning to their individual situation.

From my point of view, we need to leave medical technology to our doctors.  Our job is to try to understand how we can use the experience of illness to become more aware, more conscious of life’s mistake and to free ourselves from the endless repetition of the mistake which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify.

In Peace,
Nance

I appreciate those of you who have followed me all these years.   I appreciate your willingness to give me space and time to ‘deconstruct’ my life and this website so that it more accurately reflects my approach to counseling and supporting adults. 

In Peace,

Nance