Same sex marriage, legal marijuana
Are we all going California?
There’s a case both pro and contra. Still…
Go west young mind – time-honored mantra.
But one big issue lies undercover
A source of disgrace for nameless “others”
Yet sleepless nights for mothers and brothers…
Hard to wo/man-up in a shame-breeding culture
Must Mental Illness still be the “closeted vulture?”
Simultaneously, I was generating lines about how our multi-hyper, “all-consuming digitocracy” might compromise one’s mental health. And the ideas and images, sounds and rhythms kept coming:
Still…there’s a “new normal” equality
Of this you must agree:
With “off the grid” anxiety
Patience is now a luxury
And OMG…Everyone is ADD!
So forget “To be or not to be?”
You’re likely viral if not a byte crazy!
This passage proved a conduit to a Brave New World “Trinity” – Time-Numbers andTechnology – along with a Stress Doc ™ neologism – “Social Mediacracy.” And while trying to capture the different facets of “Getting or Going MA&DD,” the Shrink Rap kept expanding.
Finally, I saw the obvious: the original Mental Illness Rap had to give birth to a separate poetic progeny. Initially, seeing the obvious was not so easy; you get wedded to your “baby” until realizing this “brainchild” has grown and is now a potential “mother of invention” or, at least, of procreation. Now I understood that less (placing limits, streamlining, and sharpening the focus and scope of the original Rap) can be more (producing a better defined and related yet stand-alone second generation Rap). And isn’t that the essence of gestation and giving birth, no matter the creative arena?
So here is the spanking new rap, (with some of her mother’s genes), “Getting or Going MA&DD: Media Addiction & Digital Distraction – Four Slices”; consider this the equivalent of baby pictures. The Rap is followed by the proud smiling mother: “The (Shrink) Rap ™ on Mental Illness.” I can’t think of a more fitting and graceful way to celebrate this holiday season than bringing new life into the world. Please feel free to provide me feedback and to share with others. Peace and (en)joy!
Mark
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Getting or Going MA&DD: Media Addiction & Digital Distraction – Four Slices
Can We Survive Social Mediacracy?
Today’s new web of complexity
A Siren song to one’s sanity –
Our all-consuming digitocracy
A hyper Facebook Fraternity.
Whether vanity or virtuality
United in distractibility
From a junk food surfing mentality
To tracking texts like it’s the lottery.
The “Dynamic” Duo: Today’s “Trinity” & Toxicity
Dreading “off the grid” anxiety
We make Google eyes endlessly
At the high and mighty “TNT”
Our Brave New World “Trinity” –
Time-Numbers andTechnology!
Has dopamine toxicity
Numbed you into captivity?
A Not So Brave New World?
In insta-mode most miss the irony:
We’ve become so sedentary
No time for nature, no space for serenity
Tied to a station indefinitely
Being interrupted constantly
Fueled by undercover anonymity
And can’t see your eyes lack of empathy
Triggers “hide & seek” hostility, i.e.
The “e” in e-mail means “escape”-ability
Also, “I seek revenge” animosity
With heat-seeking “e”-missile strategy
Of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde identity:
A person of seeming civility
Morphs all too mysteriously…
And now stalking your community
A reach out and crush someone cyber-bully!
ROI: Return on Investment or Ruining Our Intelligence
The new ROI reality:
24/7 availability
Plus cost-cutting “efficiencies”, e.g.
Distant learning laboratories
(Yielding mostly distant memories
And frequent trips to lavatories).
Oh yes, the phone-conference pep rally
A monopoly on monotony
That only boosts consistently
Emotional IQ vacuity
As we send f-2-f to purgatory
Muting real give and take sensibility:
Who needs human intimacy
When there’s interconnectivity.
“Are you kidding me!”…
This is the stuff of absurdity
If not for all the zombie social anomie.
The future question, in all sincerity:
What’s the breakthrough-breakdown boundary
Besides gaming for eternity?
© Mark Gorkin 2014
Shrink Rap ™ Productions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The (Shrink) Rap ™ on Mental Illness: Preamble
Same sex marriage, legal marijuana
Are we all going California?
There’s a case both pro and contra. Still…
Go west young mind – time-honored mantra.
But one big issue lies undercover
A source of disgrace for nameless “others”
Yet sleepless nights for mothers and brothers…
Hard to wo/man-up in a shame-breeding culture
Must Mental Illness still be the “closeted vulture?”
There is but one reason why
For this fiery hue and cry…
Mental Illness, my friend, this is no lie
Is American as apple pie!
-------------
The (Shrink) Rap ™ on Mental Illness
When it comes to knowing inner demons
Life’s seasons yield all too human reasons:
Childhood trauma, chronic OCD
Addiction, abuse, brain anomaly
SAD, bipolar, or PTSD…
Finally, rounding out our litany
Baring fall color intensity
And spice of soul variety
DSM disorders of personality.
Oh biochem-branch of our fallen family tree
Will you genome more labels or bloom creativity?
Passion, oh passion
Not just mindless action
Passion, my passion
Sowing seeds of compassion
Can mental illness be a deviancy?
When one out of two, says the CDC
One day’ll show symptoms, predictably.
Now think about that…it might be you or me!
With mental illness most play a blame game
“Get it together, stop being so lame.”
Or we shake our heads: “It’s such a shame”
Now you’re only a diagnostic name.
Passion, oh passion
"Touched with Fire" ** interaction
Passion, our passion
The blazing pain of compassion
MI – Myocardial Infarction
A disease worthy of all our attention.
But MI – the Mental Illness version
It’s only an “in your head” perversion.
With a heart attack, you don’t get no flack
We rally troops and fight the no good plaque.
With a mind setback; wrong side of the tracks.
For the mentally ill there is no slack!
Passion, oh passion
Drives human exploration
Passion, my passion
Moral compass of compassion
This mental health rap is not meant to scare
But we still need to play “Truth AND Dare”
Especially when a family affair
That touches all whether distant or near
And it touches all for whom we care.
Mental illness breeds when slighting human needs!
With meds and counseling we can stop the bleed
With jobs and housing – a chance to succeed.
To change heads and hearts takes both word and deed…
When one breaks out another soul is freed!
Passion, oh passion
Past time for indignation
On beyond compassion
It's time for a decision!
Passion, my passion
A mind’s sacred mission
Passion, our passion
Will YOU commit to action?
---------------
** Touched with Fire" – The title of Kay Redfield Jamison's book, Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament; Jamison, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University Dept. of Psychiatry, also authored the best-selling autobiography, An Unquiet Mind.
© Mark Gorkin 2014
Shrink Rap ™ Productions
Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is a national keynote and webinar speaker and "Motivational Humorist & Team Communication Catalyst" known for his interactive, inspiring and FUN programs for both government agencies and major corporations. The Doc is a training and Stress Resilience Consultant for The Hays Companies, an international corporate insurance and wellness brokerage. He has also led “Resilience, Team Building and Humor” programs for various branches of the Armed Services. Mark, a former Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, is the author of Resiliency Rap, Practice Safe Stress, and of The Four Faces of Anger. See his award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" – www.stressdoc.com – called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR). For more info on the Doc's "Practice Safe Stress" programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email stressdoc@aol.com or call 301-875-2567.
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