Beach Chair Therapy

"Enjoy where life takes you. Just hope it's where you want to go."

What is the Soul?

“Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.” Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.” For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals." ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

My Daily Walk

The ocean was fairly calm this morning. Calm before the storm as they say as I keep a watch on the dark western skies. Seems there is a storm brewing in the gulf. One of those tropical cyclones as they call them. I had to smile this morning. Before a storm in is part of the world they remind you to upload your insurance policies to iCloud. You know we need a storage like that for our dreams.

I noticed this young boy building a sand castle. He was at that age where his two front teeth seemed to big for his face. Very precise he was.. building his dream in the sand. If the wall was not just right he would take his shovel and repack the sand in the plastic mold and place it just to his liking. As I walked by I complimented his effort. He smiled showing those two large front teeth.

He was in a race against the tide to finish his dream before it was washed away. A lot like all the dreams in our mind. Just perfect before they are washed away by the tide of reality. I am sure he will rebuild his dream again. Maybe tomorrow, next year or even thirty years from now when he brings his children to the beach and shows them how to build a castle in the sand.


Wind blowing out of the southeast as I feel the heavy air of the low pressure streaming its way to the north. As I made my way against the wind there was a poem that stuck with me like the salt was sticking to my skin. I came across it in my reading last week and it seemed fitting for this day...

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten…
―James Russell Lowell

Enjoying my dreams in the calm before the storm.

His name is Haden...with one of those smiles that made you smile.

Stopped To Ponder

Where poets and scientists converge is the idea that while the universe itself isn’t inherently imbued with meaning, it is in this self-conscious human act of paying attention that meaning arises.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Therapy...

"The problem is really never the problem. The coping is the problem.
Just as life is what it is supposed to be. It just Is. How we cope with is makes the difference."

Beach Chair Therapy

"Some may say I'm bitching. I call it Verbal Release Therapy.
Just a matter of perspective."

Beach Chair Therapy

"I'm in therapy to learn to deal with people who need therapy."

My Daily Walk...

Memorial Day weekend on the beach...what a sight. The first plunge into summer. What a release to let go of winter past. Young families, hoping to share a moment and maybe establish a tradition. At least that's what I think they hope for. What I noticed most was the children. For some their first experience of sand and waves. This little one, about three years old, I suppose. I guessed at her age based on the age of my granddaughter, but a good guess never the less. Red candy striped swim suit, blond hair and in her own world. That age where they explore with their senses one moment and the next just run in circles like a child possessed, or like the feeling of the greatest freedom. I think she felt free. Who knows but she was a delight to observe as she splashed her feel in the surf filled holes as the tide rolled in, paying little attention to the cries of her parents to be careful. Such beauty as she played with the waves lapping at her feet then retreating.

Then there was this father with his young son, dipping in the sand with one of those nets and  sharing the capture of a sand crab...will they remember that moment? I hope so, I will reflect on it often.

Then I noticed this small, independent one. Still wearing diapers covered by one of those Micky Mouse swim bottoms. He would not let his father hold his hand to make it to their resting spot. Very insistent  to make his way on his own. About two years old, was my guess, still a little wobble in his walk, teetered with every step, especially in the depressions of the foot prints. Almost falling with every step and when he reached the decline of the beach his little body speeding much faster than his brain. How funny as he struggled between the line of balance and face down in the sand. Pausing occasionally to do what ever his body needed to keep it all together. It suddenly dawned on me that he was experiencing what I experience. You see as you age, there is a point where one experiences the same feelings as my little friend, teetering on the  edge of balance or face down....it's so nice to be two again...

Then my eyes happened upon this young lady, under her umbrella, reading a book,then pausing and staring into the sea. Could be many souls trying to find a moment of peace but her mood was different. Behind that stare was a loneliness. You know it when you see it and it was not her loneliness that captured my attention but it was her special power.  I realized what power she had... in the magic of hiding her loneliness as she smiled and bid me a nice day...Doc

From The Study...a conversation of possibilities

So the problem is our consciousness. Our consciousness, which means the way you think, the way you live, the way you believe, the way you react, your behavior, all that is your consciousness, which is your life. That consciousness is you. The content of that consciousness makes consciousness...

This content has been put together through time; it isn't one day's acquirement. Our brain is the result of time, evolution. Our brain is not your brain and my brain, but the brain of mankind. This is difficult for you to see, and even recognize, because we have been so conditioned that it is my brain. And it is your brain. But if you observe, human beings right throughout the world go through enormous turmoil, poverty, anxiety, insecurity, confusion, psychologically wounded, fear, fear of being hurt, physically, fear of psychological hurts, fear of death, and the enquiry, what is there beyond...

That is the content of our consciousness. And as long as there's that content, which is always divisive, which is always fragmented, our action must be fragmented. Right?

Lessons From The Sane Asylum

We human beings are what we have been for millions of years – colossally greedy, envious, aggressive, jealous, anxious and despairing, with occasional  ashes of joy and affection. We are a strange mixture of hate, fear and gentleness; we are both violence and peace. There has been outward progress from the bullock cart to the jet plane but psychologically the individual has not changed at all, and the structure of society throughout the world has been created by individuals. The outward social structure is the result of the inward psychological structure of our human relationships, for the individual is the result of the total experience, knowledge and conduct of man. Each one of us is the storehouse of all the past. The individual is the human who is all mankind. The whole history of man is written in ourselves.

From The Sage...

“Come to the edge," he said.
 "We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
 "Come to the edge," he said.
 "We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
 "Come to the edge," he said.
 And so they came.
 And he pushed them.
 And they flew.

What Is The Soul...?

Just as the ocean is an intermediate realm, a template between the crust of the Earth and the atmosphere, so is the imagination an intermediate realm, a template between matter and spirit. Just as the ocean is the participatory realm that produces clouds and rain for the islands and continents, so is the imagination the participatory realm that produces the imagery of art and science and nourishes the civilizations on land.

Stopped to Ponder

                Sometimes you are caught between the intersection of you and your reflection...

What is the Soul?..? Sage advice

On the Existence of the Soul
By Pattiann Rogers

And if not for its sake, why would I go
Out into the night alone and stare deliberately
Straight up into 15 billion years ago and more?

I have cherished it. I have named it.
By my own solicitations
I have proof of its presence.