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I am a therapist. If you read my posts, you may wonder about that. I am sure I sound a bit certifiable. Who knows, maybe I am. Maybe that explains why I have such great rapport with my clients at the community mental health clinics; after all, it takes one to know one. I am not rich enough to be eccentric. I can be arrogant and humbled. I am human.
I am a fan of the arts as a medium for their curative powers. Painting and photos can move the mind. Our brains communicate in abstractions, and so every meme can unlock hidden doors. Movies and music are tools for people to access health. Most people are not taught how to use these tools. Take music, for instance. It’s been widely used by many as a way of reflecting where you are on a continuum of happy/sad. Most people can identify where they are by finding a song to resonate with a present mood. I find that people who tried picking a happy song during a sad time couldn’t relate; it was too great a leap and couldn’t jump to that song. Maybe they decided music therapy didn’t work for them based on that. My experience is you don’t jump from sad song to happy song, but you find stepping stones. Sad song. Less sad song. Song with a little faster beat. Happy song. You can work that train in reverse. We live in a digital world, but many of our signals are actually analog. Ride the wave.
Movies are one of my go to for self help. Take ‘Good Will Hunting,’ for example. I promote that one a lot, especially for people with past abuse. One reason I find it superior is that many people get better in that movie. ‘Death Wish…
