The Reference Library - October 2023

For The Reference Library this month, I've decided to do something a little different. While I typically post about a book that I've found helpful in my career and I try to select books that are helpful to everyone, not just to therapists, I found myself stumped when trying to select a book that met that criteria and that was also in line with my theme for October - celebrating Occupational Therapy month. I honestly can't decide if that's a gap in my library or one that my profession needs to more adequately address. I'll have to think on that. In the meantime, I want to share some writings I've collected over the years that speak to me as an OT - things others have written that echo something of the spirit of what OT is to me.

The following concept, poem, and quote do not come from occupational therapists, but this OT loves them. I hope you love them too. I make some brief comments about the concept, but the poem and the quote I will simply let stand on their own merits. You don't need my input to enjoy them ☺️

If you know about any great poems you think I should read, or any OT books you love that I've overlooked, please let me know in the comments!

If you are looking for a mental health therapist and you live in Alberta, Canada, please feel free to reach out to me through my website, Calder Mental Health Services. I offer free consultation calls, so that we can see if I'd be a good fit for you and your needs.

Take care,

Petrina

Ikigai

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ikigai as "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living". More generally it may refer to something that brings pleasure or fulfilment. But the concept is not an english one - it is borrowed from Japan, which is why the link I've included above will take you to a Japanese site (in english), if you'd like to learn more.

There is a popular book out there about the concept of ikigai, but I didn't reference it for The Reference Library because I haven't read it yet.

When I heard about the concept of ikigai, something in me responded with a strong "YES! This is what OTs help people to discover or get back to!"

I fully admit that I have not taken the time to study the concept in detail, but I share it anyway because I thought it might resonate with you too. Looking at the venn diagram above, I have a feeling that being an occupational therapist in mental health is my ikigai.

To be of use

BY MARGE PIERCY

The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

Marge Piercy, "To be of use" from Circles on the Water. Copyright © 1982 by Marge Piercy. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Source: Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982)

 

True Joy In Life

"This is the true joy in life, to be used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, to be a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and that as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live, I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman.