9Muses Art Center
When I first came to 9Muses, I was a little bit scared. As time went on I started to enjoy myself.
What I benefit from is relaxation and meditation class and Music class on Thursday and Friday. I enjoy singing very much. I also attend support groups and participate in other activities. This is how I spend my time at the center.
Julie M.
9Muses
The place I go to just be. Feeling fickle today, but there I am okay. Driving there today was somewhat challenging. These racing thoughts interfere with my focus. Right on University, I go North and cross Oakland, puzzled and frustrated; the time ticking, tick, tick, tick. Am I going to be tardy to one of my favorite meetings? I arrive during introduction. A deep breath brings composure. I am looking forward to learning something new. My thirst for enrichment and knowledge must be quenched. I am here.
Nancy Cerant
Limits Are Not Necessarily Stops Signs
In our mental health community, the subject of limits often comes up. We consumers often talk about our limitations. The larger community either tries to understand our limits or dismiss us because of them. In others words limits are perceived as a negative label. Limits mean we can only go so far. Is that so?
To use driving as an example, limits are not stop signs. The journey may be longer, may wind about so much we might feel lost, but we are still moving toward our destination.
Physical limits may not mean we stop. Jean Dominique Bauby was the Editor-in- Chief of French ELLE magazine who suffered a stroke. He woke up from a coma with Locked in Syndrome. He was mentally aware, but he was completely paralyzed. He could blink his left eye, move his head, this was the only motion he had. But he wanted to tell his story of his everyday experience. Working with assistance he wrote his memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking his eye over 250,000 times to indicate words. The book was a best seller and the movie received acclaim around the world.
Finances may be limiting, but not always. Composer Irving Berlin grew up poor in New York City in the late 1800’, begging on the streets. He had very few skills, very little education, but he could sing. By age 18 he was a singing waiter at a bar where, after closed, he taught himself to play piano. He only learned one key but that was enough to start a career in music. He needed help he could not read nor write music, there was an assistant to write down the songs he created, among them White Christmas. Later he had a piano built that could shift keys for simple modulation. Berlin asked composer Victor Herbert if he should study music. Herbert’s reply was that it was not necessary. Irving Berlin had the skills he needed. He died at the age 101, one of the most successful songwriters of the 20th century.
There are far more stories about overcoming limitations and perhaps more will be told on this site. What is more important is for our community not to see mental health issues and physical disabilities as the end of the road. Despite challenges we still have the freedom to explore, to challenge ourselves to go beyond hardships. We have the right to try and make life better, the right to recover. So why not ride past the limit signs and see where the road goes.
By Richard Aldret
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