The Secret Journals of a lay psychiatrist — As I open this chapter of my life to pubic view … that was a Freudian slip but I don’t care it all goes in … it feels like a scene from a movie, the curtain pulled aside, me, in noir and blanc, peeing down at the street. When the…

It began when Indian Shadow left the yellow house — When I adopted the moniker, Shadowgnosis, it was because nobody would ever find me under my real name. Dan Lee is a very common name, from China to Ireland. Trying to find me was like searching for a contact lens in the grass. I decided to come up with something…

It’s always father issues — Berkeley professor George Lakoff explains the right and left polarities of the society as a polarized father image. Conservatives have the strict father, who has all the power. He tells you what to do and you’d best do it. …

You are the center of the universe — I began to read some Medium pieces today, and the first one began, “Let’s face it, you aren’t the center of the universe.” I know that means to not have an inflated image of yourself, but what came to my mind was a conversation with an authority on symbols, who…

Responding to a prompt to write about coincidence — The Prompt Create a poem, personal essay, or creative nonfiction that discusses or is inspired by a coincidence or coincidences you have experienced in your life and the meaning you ascribed thereto. Meaningful coincidence isn’t as impressive as synchronicity, when the material world and the symbolic world intersect. This is used interchangeably…

In Session 18: the Lay Psychiatrist gets laid by a murderess — A feedback system is all you need to evolve. I wasn’t getting much feedback from the client and so the session wasn’t going anywhere. She was an ordinary woman, about forty, with nice legs, which she crossed gracefully, letting the hem of the blue dress fall just above the knee…

“You have more or less control over things,” he said. — A Tibetan bell sounds when the lobby door opens. It rings for me alone, opening up an exotic disposition. I can sense things. The man was suffering from angularity. I knew it when I saw him step out of the Lyft. It was a snap diagnosis but his hat was…

The Lay Psychiatrist observes evolution take a jump — I begin my day by lifting down in the basement, where I combine the intention of a more sculpted body with the intention to continually refine my thinking by straining it through increasingly finer mesh. I don’t have big heavy bars and bells because my training is different now. I…