Jan 21

…Make me strong not to be superior to my brother, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: Myself.””—from a quote by Chief Dan George, Coastal Salish, 1899-1981

Winter the last three years at least has been difficult for me, whether through Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, or just the intense focus I have somehow developed around my health and the aging process. It may be a form of PTSD, since a traumatic brush with death in 2008. I don’t know. Lately I have been taking a more proactive role to try to break the cycle of downward spiral thinking.

Not OMMM, nor phrases in foreign tongues,
my mantra a simple prayer for health of mind,
a way out of the spiral, a walk into white light.

Not the white light of near-death, but of mindfulness,
optimism and contentment. If happiness comes
it will be welcome too. So I must write

on the good days and the bad, look up
to the good in life, and not down into
the dark face of depression.

CAS Jan 21 2015