Lighting the Lifestyle Way: Nature and Music Therapy

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“God said, “Let there by light”; and there was light.” - Torah, Genesis 1:3

Yesterday, there was light, dazzling light, as I sat on my front porch. This is the same front porch where I sat for a photo in front of my birch trees for my chapter on “Nature Activism: Find Your Activism Bliss!” that I wrote for the new book, Nature Therapy.¹

But the trees that got my attention last Sunday were different ones, further away by the side of our driveway. I do not know what kind of trees they are, but their leaves had turned a luminous yellowish in the unusually warm and windy sunshine of our late October in Milwaukee.

This porch view followed watching the television show “Sunday Morning on CBS” as we usually do on Sunday morning. A feature was on the Larch trees called “Larch Madness” that were turning a similar luminous color in the mountains of Washington State (and some in the Northeast). Getting to where they exist is difficult; it is called a “gold rush” to find and see the orange and yellow needles. These are the rare conifers that are not evergreens. It is popular as a site for wedding pictures of the couple alone, with many noticing a halo from the trees.

As the sun was setting in my front yard, so were these leaves, some falling easily, the others clinging to life. I realized that I did not have to go on a long driving trip to see the fall foliage, but that it was right in front of me and I had not realized it.

After that, my wife and I then went to the Bel Canto vocal chorus concert titled “Voices of The Earth,” held in a large church. Serendipitously enough, the first song and words were also from Genesis, titled “In the Beginning” and written by Aaron Copland. It was luminous in its own way. Then there was a song titled “Come to the Woods,” based on a text by the western nature explorer and activist John Muir. Following that was the “Earth Song” by Frank Ticheli, a response to war in the Mideast and the hoped for peace. After a song about our upcoming winter, and better to not think about the winter right now, the concert ended with the song “The Music of Stillness.”

Our son had seen some similar colored fall leaves around Denver and our daughter called from Chicago about the colorful setting sun.

It is said that the biblical word for consciousness is “light,” so when it is said to “let there be light,” this light before the coming light of the sun, this can be considered to be the light of awareness. Light is therefore the insight we can have into ourselves and our patients.

From the luminously lighted trees to beautiful earth music and ending with stillness, I experienced the recapitulation of our colorful lives and their denouement in process. Always a part of our lifestyle, we are now more aware that nature and music can be therapeutic, so I am also prepared and fortified mentally for the upcoming week.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Moffic HS. Nature Activism: Find Your Activism Bliss! In: Kaplan Y, Levounis P. Nature Therapy. American Psychiatric Publishing; 2024.