Congratulations Dr. Brittney R. Lind, Psy.D.!

Fash Counseling is proud to share an award winning poem,

“Fish Meditation” written by Dr. Brittney Lind, Psy.D.  

Brittney recently competed in the Blue Institute’s Words on Water Festival 2021 and won first prize in the poetry category.  Below you can learn about Brittney’s inspiration for the poem and read the award winning poem as well.  Congratulations Brittney on your accomplishment!

“When I thought about the theme of “water,” I thought of all the animals that reside in water, and how their experience differs from ours in a more fundamental way than our fellow land mammals. Mindfulness practitioners like to say that the breath and the rhythm of breathing connect almost all living things, and it’s true; but “breathing” looks and feels different for fish than for humans. This got me thinking about a fundamental part of my work as a therapist: to understand another’s experience from the inside out, no matter how different; to hold space for everything they are and everything they bring; to see them with genuine warmth, curiosity, and humility in our gaze. I believe that if we all expand ourselves in this way, acknowledging difference and seeking to encompass it in our understanding, we can live in greater harmony with ourselves, with each other, and with nature.”- Dr. Brittney Lind, Psy.D.

 

Fish Meditation 

Now, bring your attention
to your breath.
Just notice it,
the rise
and fall
of your chest,
the coolness of the air as you breathe in,
the slight warmth of the air as you breathe out.

I don’t mind being called
a shrink

but our job is really to expand,
to embrace not just our own contradictions
but the multitudinous life seeking containment.

We’re all just doing our best to breathe.
The shrimp makes sense to the shrimp,
the eel to the eel, the shark to the shark.
The whale’s ways seem strange to the fish,
and the gulls might think him insane;
still, the whale doesn’t drown.

You don’t have to change anything
about your breath.
Just notice how it feels
as the air passes through your nose,
into your throat,
filling your lungs,
and back out through your nose.

What does a fish experience
as it opens its mouth
to let water flow over its gills?
Where in its body
does it feel dread
when something large and hungry lies near?
What fluid intelligence guides it
through cerulean shades of twilight
toward food, toward safety, toward mates?

If any thoughts come up, or you get distracted,
that is normal. It’s what our minds do.
Just notice it,
notice what your mind brought up,
and gently bring your attention back

to your breath. 

I don’t know
if a fish can learn
to notice the water.

But
when teaching a person
to notice the air

it helps

to imagine what it’s like
to not notice it,

to be pushed by the wind
and not notice it,

to be gasping for breath
and not notice it.

Your breath
is always with you.
Wherever you are,
whatever you’re doing,
you can always take a moment
to notice your breath.

And if they insist
there is no air at all,

if they roll up their sleeves
to show you their fins
and refuse to give up their scales,

let your theories
shrink,

let your heart
expand,

and just notice

how they breathe
underwater.