Book 42

Page 15

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A dull story that gets more colorful

 

Doctor, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

I will try but first, tell me what you’ve been thinking of lately.

 

Well I’ve been thinking of painting my house doctor.

 

O no I don’t mean that, try and tell me why you’ve been thinking of painting your house.

 

Well I want my life to have more color in it doctor.

Go on, go on, ---

 

That’s it doctor, I just want more color in my life.

 

Tell me about your child hood, was it a colorful one?

 

O no doctor, it was black, horribly black.

 

O I see! Well what color is your house now?

 

It’s black doctor.

 

H—mm, very interesting!

 

I suggest you go straight down to the hardware and buy yourself several gallons of paint.

 

Is that it doctor, will that cure me?

 

Yes that’s it; we’ll see how you’re getting on after you’ve finished painting your house.

 

O.K. doctor, thanks a lot.

 

Could you write me out a prescription?

 

Most certainly, now what colors would you like?

 

© Written by Dominic John Gill www.poetry.net.au  dominicj7@poetry.net.au 22/Sep/2002

 

 

The story just keeps getting brighter (Part two)

 

Well it’s nice to see you again, how have you been getting along?

 

Well I’ve painted the house just as you said doctor and I’m feeling much better now. I was wondering though, how does the treatment actually work doctor?

 

I’m afraid you’d have to go to university and study for quite a while to understand that one. But basically it works through the power of ‘symbols.’ Colors you see are just one of many symbols and ‘we’ (alternative doctors) have recognized the many resources we have at our deposal. It’s not just drugs that do the healing you know! As long as something holds symbolic power, we can use it to heal.

 

O I see doctor, I’m afraid I don’t profess to understand all that you just said, but I think I get the gist.

 

Now how are things going?

 

Well I’ve painted the whole house, the gutters are red, some of the walls are bright yellow, I really seem to like that color and the ceilings are white with splashes of color on the edges.

 

Have you done the outside as well as the inside?

 

O yes doctor, I wanted to make sure that I took the whole treatment. I know that when you take a course of anti biotic, you’ve got to take the whole bottle, even when you start to feel better! I figured it was the same for this treatment.

 

That quite right, it’s a holistic approach you know.

 

And how are you feeling within your self.

 

O much better now doctor, I wouldn’t say that I was one hundred percent, but there’s definitely a marked improvement. I’m just amazed what a bit of paint can do.

 

And how do you feel about your child hood now?

 

O I don’t’ tend to think of it these days in just the same light. I’m having memories of some very happy times coming up. It’s funny! they were always there, but I just didn’t concentrate on them.

 

That’s very good, very good indeed.

 

Yer! I must say, I’m very grateful to you doctor. There are just a few things however that still niggle at me.

 

And what is that?

 

Well from time to time I’m having these dreams that are quite ‘black’ doctor. But I don’t really mind, for the days are much easier to live with now.

 

O that’s perfectly normal. Patience often report a change in there dreams. Just try and be patience and your dreams will soon become much more tolerable and colorable.

 

Perhaps to boost things along however, we could look more closely at some of the colors you have chosen.

 

You can change any colors you want you know, you don’t have to stick with the colors you’ve painted. The treatment allows for this. In fact we recommend it. Colors and feelings are what you make it, that’s what counts.

 

Now what colors would you change if you could paint them again? It can be anything, anything your heart desires. It can even be black, for some people, that color represents great healing.

 

No I don’t think that’s the case for me doctor.

 

Anything you say. If that’s how you think of black, then that’s all that counts.

 

I think my house could do with a little more blue and green doctor. I painted the back door grey, but I’m not really sure if I like it.

 

Well, why don’t you repaint the door ‘green.’ Would that make you feel better?

 

That would be a great idea doctor, I didn’t think of that.

Now that you mentioned it, it would go great with the trees out the back. It’ll give the house a spacious feel. Bring nature into the house so to speak.

 

Now you’re getting the grist of things. Houses are symbols too, so is the outside. In fact the whole world is just a swim with symbols and any one of them can make you feel good or make you feel bad.

 

O.K. we’ll leave the treatment at that for the time being. Green for the back door.

I think your coming along just fine.

 

Yes, I do feel much better all round doctor.

 

Can I have a prescription again, I haven’t got much money and the prescription helps with my finances.

 

O.K green it is, bright lively green.

That’s greenus-livlius in medical terms.

 

That’s right doctor, the brightest green they have. I think you can up the dose as strong as they got this time.

 

I agree, I think you can handle it.

 

The next time you come in, we’ll have a bit of talk about the house next door. Maybe we can get your neighbor to paint his fence or something. You did say that the fence was painted black the last time you were here.

 

Yes it’s still black doctor and it does seem to be playing on my mind from time to time. I just didn’t think he would have a bar of changing the color.

 

Well he might not. Sometimes what our neighbors and family do can have a profound effect on how we feel and how it affects our health.

 

I never thought of it that way doctor. Anyway I’d like that doctor. I’ll go and speak with him and see if he’s amenable to change.

 

We’ll discuss the possibility of getting the fence painted next time, that’s if your neighbor doesn’t mine. He may even benefit from the color black, we’ll just have to look into that next time, it’s all a matter of compromise. That’s one of the principle theories in this treatment, “compromise.”

 


 

The story just keeps getting brighter (Part two)

 

I noticed that you’ve come out in some spots on the back of your hands!

 

Yes I was going to ask you about that doctor!

 

It happens a lot to our patience’s on this particular treatment. It’s just a side effect. In time it will fade.

 

Thanks for telling me that doctor, I was a bit worried. I thought perhaps I was over doing it.

 

No it’s perfectly normal. Most, - indeed nearly all - medical treatments have a ‘side effect’ when people are beginning to heal. You should be glad that I’ve got you onto this treatment. Some of the drug therapies side effects are much more severe. I don’t normally recommend them my self. They tend to be like using a sled hammer to crack open a walnut. Yet in saying this, even drugs are a form of symbol treatment.

 

I’ve been on that merry-go-round before doctor.

 

That’s one of the reasons why I entered into the ‘symbolic color healing’ programs, I was getting sick and tied of going on drug therapies that made things worse, not better. Most times I would get better for a while and then revert back to the old illness.

 

I find that with all the more subtle symbolic treatments, this doesn’t happen. Patients tend to heal themselves and then stay healed.

 

Even when we use the drug treatments in a symbolic way, the results are never the same.

 

That’s very interesting doctor, Anyway I will see you next time, thanks a lot doctor!

 

My pleasure, bye for now.

 

And O! don’t forget your prescription! You can pick it up down at the chemist, I mean the hardware just down the road.

© Written by Dominic John Gill www.poetry.net.au  dominicj7@poetry.net.au 22/Sep/2002