Inside the mind of a psychiatrist – Page 107 – Inside The Mind of a Psychiatrist

What the heck is a writer’s soul?

Just my way of trying to describe the creative place where ideas and passion are first conceived.

Lately, I’ve been hooked on country music, the kind of stuff where lost love and dreams of the past, tear away at the walls that keep the forgotten 16-year-old locked away from our conscious minds. Remember your 1st love? Your 1st fight? Your 1st best friend? The troubled, idealistic Holden Caulfield trying to make the world a more honest place?

Back then we didn’t know or care about Republicans and Democrats, gun control or Gay Rights. We cared about love, friendship, and finding a way to make sense out of this huge, crazy world. We dreamed of a vague future, of glory on the ball field, of getting Betty or Robert to notice us and to reciprocate our love.

The pathway into the past, hidden by the layers of logic that come with adulthood, can be breached by just letting our mind wander to wherever it wants to go. That’s not so easy when the realities of making ends meet, raising kids, a job and working out marital issues are so right in our faces.

One way to start the journey inward is to really listen to music — country, jazz, oldies, classical, whatever — to allow it to carry you into the past or present or future — the same way just a tiny glance from the girl of your dreams would send you spinning for days at a time.

Another access to the past is through the sense of smell, the most primitive part of our brain. The scents of Thanksgiving with grandma, baking chocolate brownies with mom, even an odor that makes you cringe with disgust can send you spinning to a long forgotten place.

All our senses — sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste can do it. Leave the world of paying bills and fighting traffic and take a trip back to your past. That’s where the writer’s soul exists.

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Traveling through Hong Kong and Thailand has been an enlightening experience. Fellow travelers from Australia, England, Germany and New Zealand all made the same comment, “What’s the matter? Why can’t your elected officials make a decision and compromise?”

A good question! We are like a dysfunctional family except with one “minor” difference. The whole world gets to observe our dirty linen and the whole world is affected by the decisions that our petty, stubborn ELECTED officials make or don’t make. Stubborn and self-serving is not unusul, but this process has been horrifying.

It reminds me of the time that the world was mesmerized as President Bill Clinton denied he had sex with Monica Lewinsky and impeachment proceedings began. It was obvious what happened. The proof was on the blue dress, but still the ludicrous saga went on.

Families are complicated systems. A pointed look that a wife gives her husband, inconsequential to observers, can have enormous meaning to the two spouses. So it goes in the Senate and The House. The nuances in politics are just reflections of what goes on in all our lives except that what they decide can change the world. Thanks to Joe Biden(Dem) and Mitch McConnell(Rep) a compromise seems possible.

I believe in family and in the USA. I’m also a realist and know that 50% of all marriages end in divorce. The Senate and The House don’t have the luxury of divorce. Grow up, compromise and do what you were elected to do in a more mature and productive manner. Lead by example, not by party pressure. The American people didn’t marry you. We can and will divorce you if you don’t act like a parent and a leader should act.

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