One reader's reconciliation of habit with passion & pleasure with self-actualization
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Friday, November 16, 2018
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Tuesday, November 06, 2018
Monday, November 05, 2018
Saturday, November 03, 2018
MOOC Psychology of Art Syllabus
Of special note to bibliotherapy is Module 5: Can Creativity Heal?
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Monday, October 29, 2018
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund
When I read I withdraw from the phenomenal world. I turn my attention "inward." Paradoxically, I turn outward toward the book I am holding, and, as if the book were a mirror, I feel as though I am looking inward. ...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20758127-what-we-see-when-we-read
Also, the read-alikes associated with the title look quite promising for the obsessive/compulsive reader appetite.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Lucy at Tolstoy Therapy's 12 Calming Books
Lucy does such a good job on her blog.
Can't recommend her site enough for bibliotherapy enthusiasts.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Art Therapy Gains Credibilty in UK
Institute for Poetic Medicine
Some books popularizing poetry therapy
Dystopian Feminist Fiction for our despair on the day of the scrotus
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Monday, October 08, 2018
OVERSTORY Richard Powers
"...cuing, priming, framing, confirmation bias, and the conflation of correlation with causality--all these faults, built into the brain of the most problematic of large mammals."
"As certain as weather coming from the west, the things people know for sure will change. There is no knowing for a fact. The only dependable things are humility and looking."
"Everything in the forest is the forest. Competition is not separable from endless flavors of cooperation. Trees fight no more than do the leaves on a single tree. It seems most of nature isn't red in tooth and claw, after all. For one, those species at the base of the living pyramid have neither teeth nor talons. But if trees share their storehouses, then every drop of red must float on a sea of green."
"There are a hundred thousand species of love, separately invented, each more ingenious than the last, and every one of them keeps making things."
"Disaster is, as actuarial science proves..., just another number."
"...myths are basic truths twisted into mnemonics, instructions posted from the past, memories waiting to become predictions."
"...anchoring, causal base rate errors, the endowment effect, availability, belief perserverance, confirmation, illusory correlation, cuing--all the biases you've learned about..."
"Mastery gets on board, goes online, and a million more lonely boys emigrate to the new and improved Neverland."
"Play becomes the engine of human growth."
"...memory is always a collaboration in progress."
"You can't see what you don't understand. But what you think you already understand, you'll fail to notice."
"Dying is life, too."
"Life has a way of talking to the future. It's called memory."
"Ta-ne Mahuta, Yggdrasil, Jian-Mu, the Tree of Good and Evil, the indestructible Asvattha with roots above and branches below. Then she's back at the original World Tree."
"...what life wants from people, and how it might use them."
"This is how it must go. There will be catastrophes. Disastrous setbacks and slaughters. but life is going someplace. It wants to know itself, it wants the power of choice. It wants solutions to problems that nothing alive yet know how to solve, and it's willing to use even death to find them."
"Our home has been broken into. Our lives are being endangered. The law allows for all necessary force against unlawful and imminent harm."
In reading this novel, I searched for the connecting tendrils between the stories of the many diverse characters. I searched for the story's hero, but instead found not one but many. The psychologist, the scientist-forester-ranger, the artist, the vet, the death survivor, the actuary, the advocates, the lawyer, the wannabe actress, computer programmer, academics, engineers, even the supporting characters radiate intention and quest. The background characters blocking evolutionary pathways, whether judges-police-lumbermen, are as incidental as mountains and life goes on growing around the unsympathetic groundswell.
The Pacific Northwest is the setting for much of the story, but the entire U.S. is traversed with Powers connecting roots of characters and trees from coast to coast. Botanical drawings are interspersed throughout the text, almost like portraits, the trees themselves the real heroes.
Chapters are divided: Roots, Nicholas Hoel, Mimi Ma, Adam Appich, Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly, Douglas Pavlicek, Neelay Mehta, Patricia Westerford, Olivia Vandergriff, Trunk, Crown, Seeds. Each chapter is a novel in its own right and each main character is associated with a tree species: chestnuts, pine, elm-ash-ironwood-maple, oak-linden, fig-banyan, redwoods, beech, ginko, apple. The myths, historical and factual information alone are mind-blowing, but all together they transcend the novel form into a text that can only be described as a lesson in life.
(paraphrased) Three trees: Lote-boundary of the 7th heaven that none shall pass, mulberry-of the magical elixir of life, and Now--the tree that grows all around us and in us and follows us wherever we go. Luohan Arhats-adepts who have passed through the four stages of Enlightenment and now live in pure, knowing joy. A sacred tapestry: leaning on a staff in a forest opening, peering through the narrow window in a wall, sitting underneath a twisted pine. Powers is the silkworm weaving the spirit of all of these disparate experiences together in one massive tome, a testament to the beauty and power of nature.
Sunday, October 07, 2018
Friday, September 28, 2018
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Music (off topic)
http://hubguitar.com/rhythm/off-the-beat-syncopated-rhythms
https://makingmusicmag.com/a-guide-to-syncopation/
https://www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation/
http://www.tomweissmusic.com/chords/
If you have a piano or guitar, try playing each primary chord in C major: I (C major - which contains the notes C, E and G), IV (F major - which contains the notes F, A and C) and V (G major - which contains the notes G, B and D).
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
References from 2017 Person-Centered Medical Journal
. Mar RA, Oatley K, Hirsh J, Dela Paz J, Peterson JB. Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of Research in Personality. 2006;40(5):694-712.
. Kidd DC, Castano E. Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. Science 2014;342(6156):377-80.
. Dovey C. Can Reading Make You Happier? : The New Yorker 2015 [cited 2015 September 30 ]. Available from: www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier
. Cloninger CR, Salloum IM, Mezzich JE (2012): The dynamic origins of positive health and well being. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine 2: 179- 187.
. Katz G, Watt JA. Bibliotherapy: The Use of Books in Psychiatric Treatment Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 1992;37(3):173-8.
. McCulliss D. Bibliotherapy: Historical and research perspectives. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2012;25(1):23-38.
. Cohen L. Phenomenology of Therapeutic Reading with Implications for Research and Practice of Bibliotherapy The Arts in Psychotherapy 1994 21(1):37-44.
. Hynes AM, Hynes-Berry A. Bibliotherapy: The interactive process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1986.
. Shrodes C. Bibliotherapy: A theoretical and clinical-experimental study. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation ]. In press 1950.
. Furness R. An evaluation of a Books on Prescription scheme in a UK public library authority Health Information & Libraries Journal. 2012;29:333-7.
. Macdonald J, Vallance D, McGrath M. An evaluation of a collaborative bibliotherapy scheme delivered via a library service. Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing. 2013;20(10):857-65.
. Neville P. Prose not Prozac? The role of book prescription schemes and healthy reading schemes in the treatment of mental illness in Ireland. Health Sociology Review. 2013;22(1):19-36.
. Marrs RW. A Meta-Analysis of Bibliotherapy Studies American Journal of Community Psychology. 1995;23(6):843-64.
. Cuijpers P. Bibliotherapy in Unipolar Depression: A Meta-Analysis Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry. 1997;28(2):139-47.
. Gregory RJ, Schwer Canning S, Lee TW, Wise JC. Cognitive Bibliotherapy for Depression: A Meta-Analysis. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 2004;35(3):275-80.
. Gellatly J, Bower P, Hennessy S, Richards D, Gilbody S, Lovell K. What makes self-help interventions effective in the management of depressive symptoms? Meta-analysis and meta-regression Psychological Medicine. 2007;37:1217-28.
. Fanner D, Urquhart C. Bibliotherapy for mental health service users Part 1: a systematic review. Health Information & Libraries Journal. 2008;25(4):237-52.
. Chamberlain D, Heaps D, Robert I. Bibliotherapy and information prescriptions: A summary of the published evidence-base and recommendations from past and ongoing Books on Prescription projects. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 2008;15(1):24-36.
. Kreuter EA, Reiter S. Building resilience in the face of loss and irrelevance: Poetic methods for personal and professional transformation. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2014;27(1):13-24.
. Conlon A. The use of poetry in reconciling unfinished business near end-of-life. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2012;25(1):1-8.
. Schneider NM, Peterson M, Gathercoal KA, Hamilton E. The effect of bibliotherapy on anxiety in children with cancer. International Journal of Child Health and Human Development. 2013;6(3):337-45.
. Wexler M. A poetry program for the very elderly-Narrative perspective on one therapeutic model. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2014;27(1):35-46.
. Bembry JX, Zentgraf S, Baffour T. Social skills training through poetry therapy: A group intervention with schizophrenic patients. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2013;26(2):73-82.
. Tamura H. Poetry therapy for schizophrenia: A linguistic psychotherapeutic model of renku (linked poetry). The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2001;28(5):319-28.
. Cocking A, Astill J. Using literature as a therapeutic tool with people with moderate and borderline learning disabilities in a forensic setting. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2004;32(1):16-23.
. Duffy JT. A heroic journey: Re-conceptualizing adjustment disorder through the lens of the hero's quest. Journal of Systemic Therapies. 2010;29(4):1-16.
. Petrescu I, MacFarlane K, Ranzijn R. Psychological effects of poetry workshops with people with early stage dementia: An exploratory study. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice. 2014;13(2):207-15.
. Mohammadian Y, Shahidi S, Mahaki B, Mohammadi AZ, Baghban AA, Zayeri F. Evaluating the use of poetry to reduce signs of depression, anxiety and stress in Iranian female students. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2011;38(1):59-63.
. Dowrick C, Billington J, Robinson J, Hamer A, Williams C. Get into Reading as an intervention for common mental health problems: exploring catalysts for change. Medical Humanities. 2012;38(1):15-20.
. Tegner I, Fox J, Philipp R, Thorne P. Evaluating the use of poetry to improve well-being and emotional resilience in cancer patients. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2009; 22(3):121-31.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Saturday, September 01, 2018
Nursery Rhymes
https://www.thoughtco.com/classic-nursery-rhymes-4158623
https://www.nurseryrhymes.org/nursery-rhymes.html
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55035/dark-origins-11-classic-nursery-rhymes
http://www.theoccultmuseum.com/secret-origins-9-classic-childhood-nursery-rhymes/
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150610-the-dark-side-of-nursery-rhymes
http://www.mothergoose.com/Rhymes/Azrhymes.htm
https://www.littlethings.com/truth-behind-nursery-rhymes/
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
Read More Online Poetry: Ink Node
It's hard for me to rationalize buying books of poetry. Whether I see it as too self-indulgent, or I'm too miserly, as much as a bibliophile as I am it's been one of the lesser evils in terms of my book buying obsessions. It's like buying art... Am I really that kind of person--the person who can afford to buy art?
That's changing a little as I allow myself to write more poetry and do more art. Using art as the clearer example: I am learning to see more since I've begun drawing and painting. I've learned to not just see what I expect to see but to acknowledge there's more there there than meets the eye, if you know what to look for. In art, there are shadows and edges and white spaces. In poetry, there are pauses, shadings and reflections.
Online is ideal territory for finding and viewing both art and poetry, whether it's the classics at some of the well-known museums or universities:
ART
https://images.nga.gov/?service=category&action=show_content_page&language=en&category=16
http://mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online
or specialized wiki-type encyclopedias
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
or virtual art galleries
https://www.deviantart.com/
POETRY
(search "poetry" on this site for some links)
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
100 Best Loved Books List from PBS
but...people will love where they love.
https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Thursday, July 12, 2018
More FutureLearn Poems
stretching
our hearts attempt,
even at a distance,
I see you hurt
because we do not fit.
Keith lives on Young Street,
West of Olympia,
Mudd Bay Freeway
to Steamboat Island.
Drive carefully,
soft shoulders.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Thoughts on Rhyme from How to Make a Poem
I have found it fun and helpful to play with rhyme when I am suffering from writer's block. It's like the block occurs because there are too many words from which to choose, creating a blockage in the conscious channel of the mind. By limiting the words to ones that rhyme, the blockage is loosened and flow can be reinstated. Later, it may be desirable to go back and edit out the rhyme if it sounds too cliche, but the rhyme has served a purpose either way. Rhyming seems to allow the mind to drift to a more lyrical, unconscious level where Pete picks a peck of pickled peppers (obviously not a rhyme, but an example of how a little silliness can loosen the death grip our hyper conscious censors wield over our creative efforts.
Futurelearn How to Make a Poem exercise
Why so many?
Because these
bound
pages
of ink
are my tools.
My hammers,
My squares,
My drills
for repairs.
The right tool
for the job...
You say,
with blue collar
confidence,
makes all the
Difference.
Cento by Hsintao Chang
Hugged by my plain old wrapper of no-expectation
What falls away is always. And is near
"when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story" By Gwendolyn Brooks
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49269/when-you-have-forgotten-sunday-the-love-story
"The Waking" By Theodore Roethke
https://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/waking
Compliments of Hsintao Chang
From FutureLearn.com How to Make a Poem
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Found Poems
Not My Mother's Keeper
Mothers are dying after childbirth
and are all slightly insane
You can't fix your mother
We are all hard-wired for bonding
how strong you are to have made it this far
Mothers are like that, yeah they are
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/too-many-mothers-are-dying-after-childbirth-hospital-hopes-save-n873531
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10858-mothers-are-all-slightly-insane
https://www.bustle.com/articles/123975-6-signs-you-have-a-toxic-mother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yZJLWkzYyE
Monday, July 09, 2018
Cento = a poem collage
An exercise from the Future Learn free course on How to Make a Poem:
But ah! thought kills me that I am not thought
Langston Hughes "As I Grew Older" https://allpoetry.com/As-I-Grew-Older
Shakespeare's "Sonnet 44" http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/44.html
Poem collage! How brilliant...I could do this all day long. : )
The thing that really gets me, is how not only are the lines and words of the poem descriptive, but there is an invitation to read the whole of both poems in relation to the selections as well as consider the works and life of the poet's experience in relation to the poem. Layers upon layers of meaning and insight...
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
What We See When We Read
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/237251/what-we-see-when-we-read-by-peter-mendelsund/
https://www.amazon.com/What-We-See-When-Read/dp/0804171637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530125983&sr=8-1&keywords=what+we+see+when+we+read
Described as a phenomenology of reading, I thought it might be interesting to record my impressions here as I am reading the book.
Published in 2014, so not a new title, but new to me and welcome as I am experiencing my own renaissance as reader with a big toe holding open a doorway to the visual arts.
Mendelsund is an artist/designer and visual thinker. The book is as much about processing the images as it is about reading the words.
One of the first questions in the book asks the reader to visualize one of their favorite characters. Then asks us to describe the character.
I found myself wanting to default to the author's appearance or my mind wandered to what the "consensus" version from movies or other predefined images might be out there circulating.
Though when I thought about it later, I conceded that these first impressions were not what I experienced while reading.
While reading, I am all of the characters. Good and bad. Saintly and wicked. Ugly and beautiful.
So, my answer to your question, Peter, is they look like me. But male, or younger, or another species, bigger, or shorter, wiser, sillier.
Monday, June 25, 2018
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Monday, June 18, 2018
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Bibliotherapy experts
Saturday, June 09, 2018
Wednesday, June 06, 2018
Sunday, June 03, 2018
Recent Recommendations from Lucy @ Tolstoy Therapy & Lit Therapy
Only wish I were this organized and focused in my intentions...
https://www.littherapy.com/
Monday, May 21, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Book Riot Cyberpunk List
For anyone that's been reading any of my posts, few and far between as they might be, you know cyberpunk is my favorite genre fiction.
Book Riot List of Literary Memoirs
A well-written memoir can be just the bibliotherapeutic prescription for solace when feeling that it's you against the world. In reading you find, it's you and the author battling many of the same battles, staring down the barrel at many of the same enemies.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Monday, April 09, 2018
Saturday, April 07, 2018
Friday, April 06, 2018
Lynda Barry Analog is revoltionary...
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Aspects of the Novel
Monday, January 08, 2018
Blank pages
Prep
Gathering information or research.
Visualization: 'Unpacking’ an image, and discovering its significance through writing about it.
Length: Approximate before you write it.
Shape: Dialogue or description? Sections or scenes?"