Par la Pluie

colours to listen to raindrops by...

The wind and rain are dancing with my wind chimes right now.  I love that.

I have recently been reading for the umpteenth time (I really don’t know how many times I’ve read it) My Voice Will Go With You. This is one of the most amazing books I have read–the teaching tales of Dr. Milton Erickson.  Even if you’re not particularly interested in his work in hypnosis, you cannot help but be amazed at these little therapeutic metaphors.  Here’s a quote from a section on death and dying, a response from Dr. Erickson to one of his students, who is worried about him dying:

My mother feel and broke her hip at ninety-three.  She said, “This is a ridiculous thing for a woman my age to do.  I’ll get over it.”  And she did.

When she fell and broke the other hip a year later, she said, “getting over that first broken hip took a lot out of me.  I don’t think I’ll get over this one, but nobody will ever say I didn’t try.”

I knew, and the rest of the family knew, by my blank face, that the second broken hip would be her death.  She died of congestive pneumonia, the “old woman’s friend.”

My mother’s favorite quotation was “Into each life some rain must fall.  Some days must be dark and dreary.”  Longfellow’s poem “The Rainy Day.”

My father and mother enjoyed life thoroughly, always.  I try to impress upon patients: “Enjoy life and enjoy it thoroughly.”  And the more humor you can put into life, the better off you are.

I don’t know where that student got the idea that I’m going to die.  I’m going to put that off.

Makes me think a bit of this song by Samuel Barber, sung here by a student from Arizona State University (how ironic–Dr. Erickson lived out the end of his life in Phoenix, just a hop, skip and a jump from Tempe):

Nuvoletta

Straight from  Finnegan’s Wake, that strange text is! Nobody could explore the world of stream-of-consciousness like Joyce!

Ever feel as though your life is like a James Joyce novel?  Uh huh.

Samuel Barber’s “Nuvoletta”

Don’t worry…I’m starting to think that none of it really makes any sense anyway…it just is.  Who ever said that we were supposed to “make sense” of anything, after all?

Water Drop

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Explore posts in the same categories: Buddhism, creative stuff, Life, Meditation, music, spirituality

Tags: Buddhism, creative stuff, hypnosis, Life, Meditation, music, poetry, spirituality

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