HomeDan Keusal, M.S., LMFT
Jungian Psychotherapy for Individuals & Couples
"Find Your Purpose, Heal Your Pain, Live With Passion"
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Winter 2018 edition:
"Night Vision"
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Greetings!
The New Year is often a time to begin new projects, to take the first steps in new directions--steps which can turn vision into action, and bring possibilities into being. I've long envisioned the essays I've written for this newsletter growing into something more, and this year I'm going to set aside time to explore what that might look like--articles published in other places? the beginnings of a book? In order to make time for this work, there will be some changes in this newsletter.
Fifteen years ago, I began sending out postcards through the mail with a brief quote and a single paragraph of my reflections on that quote. Ten years ago, I shifted to this email newsletter format, which allowed me to expand my reflections and to share links to poems, movies, books, and other resources.
Now, in order to devote more time to growing my writing into whatever it will become next, I'm going to return these newsletters to something like the briefer length and simpler format of my early postcards, while continuing to offer you what I hope will be thoughtful, evocative, and inspiring reflections.
As a first step toward all of that, this edition brings back the reflections (in slightly edited form) from one of my first postcards, a meditation on "hiking in the dark"--an appropriate metaphor for this winter season and for the darkness of the times in which we find ourselves. I've also included a poem, a song, and a quote in my usual "Resources" section (along with another one of my photos), as well as news of my upcoming workshops--including one on the eve of Valentines Day (February 13th): "Finding Love, Sustaining Love" (details are below).
As this new year continues to unfold, may your own vision find its footing, and may you find something here to help nourish and inspire you...as you take the next steps in your own journey.
~Dan
* * * * *
Reflections: “Night Vision."
"I would shelter you
and keep you in light,
but I can only teach you
night vision."
~Suzanne Vega
A friend once invited me to go for a hike at night. As we set out into the woods, I reached for my flashlight, but she said that if I just gave my eyes the chance to adjust, I'd actually see more without it. Instead of following a narrow, artificial path of light, I learned to take in the night on its own terms. That which I had feared slowly revealed a great deal to me. Night often shows up in our lives in less literal forms: loneliness, depression, injustice, illness. And just as often we turn to the equivalent of a flashlight: taking a pill, turning on the TV, buying something that we think will fill the void. Each of these may have their place, but reaching for them too soon can rob of us revelations that come only when we "let our eyes adjust." Psychotherapy and astrology (the two services I offer) can help us learn "night vision." So can songwriters like Suzanne Vega, as well as filmmakers, novelists, poets, artists, activists, and more. Find the way that suits you best. And have a good hike.
Resources For A Life Of Depth And Meaning:
(song): "Night Vision" (Suzanne Vega).
(quote): "Art should disturb the comfortable, and comfort the disturbed." (Cesar Cruz)
(poem): "Proficiency" (Lynn Ungar).
(photo): "Snowfall on leaves and buds, Christmas Day 2017" (by Dan Keusal). Click on the photo to read more about it, and to download your own copy from my web site:
Dan Keusal, M.S., LMFT, Psychotherapist. (206) 523-1340. Email: dankeusal@dankeusal.com
