MY PLACE

There is a place

A core of our existance

Where personal experiences register

And decisions of self are made

In this private space

Thoughts and feelings vibrate

Mirroring our condition and

Urging the paths of tomorrow

As passions of the moment

Mix with memories of yesterday

Impulses begin jousting

For dominance of our person

Yet there is a window with mountain view

For seeing our posture in the meadow

By pausing to gaze there

We can visualize our options

REFLECTION

This is a poem I wrote many years ago and used as a foreward for a book called SAIL.

It is my personal belief that words soul, self and ego describe this place.

It is a place we need to go to make decisions and from which to speak with compassion and respect for oneself and others. 

This is an exerpt from "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press, 2008). 

"Thomas Stubbins is a man of long, deep thoughts. He was a psychiatrist in London until he ran amok at the annual dinner of the Friends of Sigmund Freud in 1934. He told me the whole story once. The Friends were great talkers and their speeches went on for hours - while the plates stayed bare. Finally they served up, and silence fell upon the hall as the psychiatrists bolted their chops. Thompson saw his chance: he beat his spoon upon the glass and shouted from the floor to be heard. 

Did any of you ever thingk that along about the time the notion of a SOUL gave out, Freud popped up with the EGO to take its place? The timing of the man! Did he not pause to reflect? The irresponsible old coot! It is my belief that men must spout this twaddle about egos, because they fear they have no soul."

About Freud's time, ego became a more fashionable word for the soul .... and even later self became more fashionable than ego. In many ways the strength of soul or ego or self defined the emotional strength of that person. It guided us to make prudent decisions and wise actions - not based on warped values or impulses. These decisions were based on a realistic and compassionate assessment of ourselves and others.

I do not think a person can have too much soul, or self, or ego. Yet the words self and ego have lost their healthy meaning and taken on "selfish" connotations.  

Treasure that place that is uniquely yours and spend some time there. Go there and center.