Thursday, May 26, 2016

1001 Ways to Live Wild

So you could have written that last post, maybe. It didn't take long. But neither of us, asked to pad the list of Eight Reasons We Overbook to 1001 Reasons We Overbook, could have made it happen. 

Who writes a list of 1001 items?

Barbara Ann Kipfer. She has a few books of lists, like 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, and 4000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone. She sent me the lovely little hard-covered work,  1001 Ways to Live Wild  via her publicist, published by National Geographic, which is where the truly wild things are, within those pages.

Otherwise Barbara's suggestions might have turned out to be a bit too soppy, sweet, a just do it book, rather than something truly imaginative. The book is full of tiny risk-taking strategies (although few are terribly risky) to take us out of our comfort zones, and it's good to get out of there once in awhile. We call it good stress.
Barbara Ann Kipfer quotes
Barbara Ann Kipfer quotes
Barbara Ann Kipfer quotes


I'd have to think twice, however, about recommending this list to certain patients, people who have zero get up and go, no emotional/physical energy. We would have to wait for the recovery stage, otherwise the disorder would sabotage the therapy. Therapy should sabotage a disorder, but it can work the other way around if you recommend an intervention at the wrong time. And you look inexperienced, naive.

It is not for the agoraphobic, either, until there's a possibility of getting out to a museum, or taking a walk. Without some initial help, maybe a lot, most people who can't leave the house aren't likely to hop a plane and go to Scotland. 

This is my coffee table, the place for the best books.
Therapydoc's coffee table

The list nicely satiates the topic, if you're a qualitative research person, loving that kind of thing, and reflects the author's interest in nature, geography, art, music, travel, meditation, and karma.

It is filled with joy and adventure, and if you can get some serotonin going, it can't hurt to work a few of the behavioral strategies. Take them with a good attitude and they're likely to feel pretty good. But some of them are costly, and it is presumptive to think that just anyone can travel.

Dr. Kipfer has a PhD's in linguistics, archaeology, and Buddhist studies, and reminds us that being wild can feel good, and some of our wildest moments are at our fingertips. We don't have to go to Tibet.

But consider
No. 326. Plan a trip to see as much as possible of the Colorado Trail's eight mountain ranges, six national forests, and six wilderness areas.
And if that is impossible, let me add, watch River Monsters, on Animal Planet, maybe How to Catch a Halibut. You might win a free fishing lesson, too, if you go to the website. That should wake you up.

therapydoc

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