A funny thing happened on the way to therapy...

"You have a 2 p.m. and a 2 a.m. personality. I'm more interested in the 2 a.m. monster you become
than the 2 p.m. human being you pretend to be..."

Lessons From The Sea

“He always thought of the sea as ‘la mar’ which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as ‘el mar’ which is masculine.They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy. But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them." The Old Man and The Sea...Earnest Hemingway

Lessons From The Sane Asylum- finding meaning

The afternoon of your life should have a significance of its own.
It cannot be an appendage to the sorrows of the morning of your life...

Lessons From The Sane Asylum

Anxiety, tension and worry are all forms of fear and caused by too much future.
Guilt, regret, resentment, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past.

So... one could say that a person's negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time
and the denial of the present.

From Inside The Sane Asylum

"And when the morning light comes streaming in...
get up and do it again." Jackson Brown

A funny thing happened on the way to therapy...

"Don't play the victim to circumstances you created."

Made Me Grin

This one is for Jes B Rambling

Ecology of The Mind...

The Ecology of the Mind...the edge effect

On my morning walk I noticed the beauty of the the sea meeting the shore. The ecotone, that defined space where two habitats merge. That threshold where water meets the shore, where the forest comes to meadow, or where woodland ends at a cultivated lawn. It is the edge habitat where everything — soil content, vegetation, moisture, humidity, light, pollination — changes. It’s also where species from both sides converge, rendering it a place of complex interaction and diversity. The edge...

Things are always happening there. The small sea birds as they scramble from the edge of the waves, poking their beaks in the sand looking for that bite size crustacean. The Osprey as they break the edge of the water then towers to the sky with their next meal. Life just seems to happen on the edge.

It is a place of constant change and unexpected appearances. Such a distinction can be helpful when you are trying to distill a nebulous idea into a handful of words, or just in reflecting on a memory from our past. It is nothing more than noticing that space where broken sea shells become the sandy shore... just a glance is enough to remind us of the intensity and yet simple complexity in these places of transition, where one thing manages to become another. Edge walking with our mind and bodies.

We are all edge walkers when you really think about it. Always looking at the edge for our inspiration, our thrill our transition. Looking outward at the horizon or inward trying to discern the edge of our soul. That edge between depression and happiness, between control and freedom. The edge between love and hate, compassion and resentment. Life happens on the edge and we all are just edge walkers between life and death...make your distinctions well my friends...Doc

Lessons From Inside The Sane Asylum

The Gratitude of Grace

Once upon a time and place
You will find a moment of grace.

In that moment births an ocean of peace
Inside... a space that will never leave you.

Distractions will come inside your space
Distractions will go, but peace will stay.

Once upon a time and place
Distractions will go and peace will stay.
Then my friends you find your grace.

Lessons From The Heart...

Common Humanity...

My heart crying out in pain
As I silently sing your name...humanity

My bones now stiff and unwelcoming to the cold and rain
A craving for comfort demanding I board the human train.

But my soul ever whispering a secret of a common humanity...

Will I always find you hidden so deep...within this cave of my heart
as I softly say your name...humanity

My face now reflected in the mirror of time
insults me with Indelicacy of aging
but I still whisper your name...

I know I will not out run the racing hours and days
my flesh will crumble as my soul is thrown onto the wheel of lifetimes

but remember my heart always sings the secret of a common humanity...

From Inside The Sane Asylum

Made Me Grin

Lessons From The Road...the Seerer

From The Road...The Seerer

I heard stories of this man called The Seerer. They say he migrates south in the winter and he makes his home along Delmar Street. So on this cool sunny morn, I searched for the man who claimed he could read the Souls of Humanity.

He was on the bench where they described, with his bible close in hand and looking toward the sky. As I approached he gave me a stare...one of those looks that has no compare.

"Are you the Sage, a Seerer and a prophet they all subscribe", I asked?

"In every man sleeps a prophet and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world. I only exist in comparison to others, so make me what you wish", he replied.

My father was a holy man. I watched him closely as he tended to the hearts and souls of others and many times at the expense of his own soul. I remember how he always looked people in their eyes, never speaking first but always a gentleness in his eyes.

The Seerer's eyes were dark and they never left the stare, even for a brief glance to passers in the street. Only speaking and responding to what was asked.  I sat next to him on that bench, with intent on what he had to say.

Breaking the silence, I asked, "Do you ever cry?"

Looking to the sky, he replied, "Through my window I spy the stars. I walk in to not wake the sky and dance barefoot on the stage of chaos." After a brief pause..."yes I cry, but only when it rains, that way no one sees my pain."

Yes, I had to ask, "What would cause you so much pain?"

And then came the lesson I did not want to miss..."I cry for humanity lost in this insanity of good, better and best. The desperate, the lonely with no where left to go. No kin, no friend, no foe. I cry for the sick and wounded wretched in pain, each breath a call for health again. I cry for my country ravaged by crime, corruption and greed. Fears and horrors that lurk at every door. I cry for the victims of those that have monsters in their veins. The broken and the destitute you hope have left in haste, those who's  joy are now just a forgotten taste." He paused and looked me in the eyes, "Dear sir, my souls a raging fear, drowning in tears like falling rain."

We spent that morning on the bench making friends and discussing the rest.

A sage, a prophet, a holy man?...much more than that. A little crazy to some by their measure, but a strong mind that was only searching for goodness and grace. Call him what you wish, he only exist in comparison to the others...but above all he is The Seerer of the heart and soul of man.

His name was Ivan...The Seerer

To my friend...

These tears fall from my eyes
as the rain falls from the sky.

Every day that passes we fail the test
When all we have to do is be kind to our kin and the rest.

I walk through the rain so you can't see me cry...
So you can't see the things that I hide in pain.

Let your tears water your soul
for your tears are heavens rain.
The soul would have no rainbow without your pain.

I stand in the rain so you can't see my tears as I cry for humanity...

The Sane Asylum Masters Series

Riverfront Line

Dumaine Station 

New Orleans, 2016 ...Christopher Bryson

The Sane Asylum...Master Series

 portrait by Edmondo Senatore.

From Inside The Sane Asylum...my morning walk

On my morning walk...Impressions in the sand

Everyone carries their own disguise...
who is this depression in the sand?
Your truth can only be realized through your eyes...
but I only get an expression in the sand.
I would like to try and read your mind...
 all I see is your impression in the sand.
Are you clenching the rope of hopes last strand...
 here only a revision in the sand.
Do you carry fire and brimstone inside...
but do you even notice the confession in the sand?
Maybe your just trying to push it all aside.

Are you longing to find this feeling so grand...
Maybe just a touch of another's hand?
Is there darkness underneath a smile so kind...
So much reality declined...as you leave it all behind.

But I only see an expression of impressions in the sand

And Moon Beam adds:
Then the tide comes in and it is as though you have never been to make impressions in the sand.

...and,   ...then the tide whispers,.... no more...
Thanks for the ending Shasta...

From Inside The Sane Aslyum...my morning walk

Down by the Sea...29.5381*N, 81.2233* W

At dawn I chart my song

I call to all who live by the shore

I flung my net out into the sea

where the sand and silver shines its lyric lines

The waves begin to laugh as the helmsman sings

And I smile at the wrinkled shore and the salt from her soft green hair

Such are tales of ancient lore

As the helmsman chants his haunting song

Chant your song, make it loud and clear

So full of longing, the sea birds poise to hear

Never a fish have I caught so fair

Never a dream in tangled in my nets have I seen

The helmsman answered, learn the secrets of the sea

Only the brave will comprehend its mystery

I smile at the wrinkled shore

Unraveling velvet flows of the maiden's hair

I held her close where at rest she would not be

I sang the helmsman's song for her beauty that I see 

Helmsman, teach me that song till my heart is full

Tell me all the secrets of the sea

A joy to brief...then rolled away with the tide

Tomorrow...tomorrow I will again comprehend her mystery...

Stopped to Ponder