Poetry to my Soul

So there are two things that turn me on.  Relating and thinking about relating. In my readings about psychotherapy, couples counseling and parenting, I am often sad that the books lack the lyricism and beauty that is involved in doing the jobs that light up my heart and life; loving my clients, kids and husband.  I have pulled off my "over stuffed" bookshelf a book I have had for almost ten years, A General Theory of Love over the last three months because it has put the lyrical and poetic back into teaching and relating and psychology.

The book covers  (cheesily I stole from an Amazon.com book reviewer) this;

There are 3 "axioms" for successful love: (1) Connect, (2) Be authentic, (3) The earlier the better. The more these 3 conditions are met, the more we experience love. Now that is a theory we can apply! As a member of the corporate world, I like the fact that the authors offer solutions not just scientific observations and results. "Connect" means listen, look at, etc. "Be authentic" means say what you are really feeling not what is convenient or politically correct. "The earlier the better" suggests that loving is most crucial early in life and early in relationships.

But listen to the WAY it covers;

So it is with the emotional mind.  If the fountain water were frozen as solid as the rock that cups it, we could predict its conformation over the next minute with certainty.  If all possible arrangements of water molecules were equally probable, we could throw up our hands in graceful defeat before infinity.  It is the liquidity of the water and the mind that befuddles, their ability to assume an array of forms with immense - but not limitless-variety.  Like a bead of sea spray, the future of an emotional mind hangs between the immobility of  stone and the freedom of the summer sky.  Identity can change, but only within the outlines its architecture commands. 

               -A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, Richard Lannon, p. 166

This book is a right brain to right brain transmission.  A feat for words!  I am grateful.  There are some nits about the book but I am not one to throw all out because of nits.