Bravely Discover Your Treasured Self
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.
― Henry David Thoreau
I love to frolic in lush wordscapes such as this quote, especially when the author skillfully calls out a human flaw. Ignoring where you are and seeking another distant shore is what Thoreau calls foolish. Getting mired in the lament of “the grass is greener” shifts our gaze to look beyond where we stand, neglecting to water and tend to our own land, life and loves. What a fitting quote to memorialize Jimmy Buffett who passed away on September 1st , the weekend of bidding farewell to what I am guessing was his most cherished season, summer.
His music captures the eternal tropical island, a testimony to live in the moment, pause with toes in the sand, savor the beauty of a sunset and yes, perhaps sip on a salty margarita and imagine you are a pirate!
Navigating our moods, steadying our emotions, digging for meaningful understanding to finally dock in a safe harbor is the metaphorical language of therapy. During counseling we voyage out to stormy seas from agonizing anxiety due to a troubling workplace, betrayal by a loved one, changing tides of family as children become adults, managing care of aging parents, digesting anger or grief, battling loneliness and frustrated by the shallowness of today’s dating culture.
We repair our sails, replenish supplies of hopeful confidence and chart our next direction to fulfillment. Hmmm, maybe we all have a bit of a pirate in us seeking treasure and value, significance and meaning. Being in therapy is much like being a Pirate (hence, Pirate Sisters). Isn’t it time to plunder your doubts? Dig deep for meaning and launch yourself on every wave?
As mortality plucks away those iconic characters who have woven meaning into our lives, I find comfort as I imagine Jimmy Buffett adjusting his sails, warmed by balmy breezes, enjoying a cheeseburger in heavenly paradise where it is 5 o’clock all the time and pirates abound singing “Son of a Son of a Sailor.”
Go and launch yourself on every wave of every minute, devour what simply is. There is no other life but the one you are in right this very moment.