More sky stuff

This story popped into my mind shortly after I had posted my last comments, and is actually less about sky, and more about doing the right thing.

Quite a few years ago I was consulting in a psychiatric hospital with the adolescent and adult addiction units. I was board certified in clinical psychodrama, which was what gave me permission to be there. I ran psychodrama therapy groups during the day for the adolescent residents, and in the evening for the adult patients and their families.

One of the things that took me the longest to learn while in training (500+ hours of clinical, in all) was that being spontaneous was as important as being prepared. When leading patients into therapeutic situations, the therapist had to be ready for anything, and had to trust in his or her head to come up with the right things at the right times. There was really not any script one could follow.

One particular cold, February night I had arrived at the hospital when it was already dark, and, again in a parking lot, took the time to take in the spectacularly clear night sky. This was in a relatively unpopulated part of the suburbs, so there was a minimum of background light, making the stars all the more brilliant. As I was (and still am), essentially, a sky nut, I knew a few of the constellations and found some familiar stars.

When I got into the room where we were to begin our session, I realized that there was a back door that led out onto an open stone patio behind the building. As families were visiting, many of them had jackets or heavy sweaters handy. I let my head take over, and told them about the beautiful night sky, then asked if they would like to see it. They were enthusiastic, so out we went!

The first couple of minutes on the patio were a jumble of emotions, with plenty of oooo's and ahhhh's making up the conversation. Then, quite suddenly, one of the patients yelled, "Look, there's Orion!" Everyone turned to look, and the excitement spread as they twisted their necks further and found the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper and the North Star. Someone even pointed out what could have been another galaxy.

I was more than a little confused by their considerable knowledge, until one of them, shivering with joy and the cold air, told me they had been on a field trip that afternoon, to the planetarium in Philadelphia. They were completely blown away by the fact that they were now seeing for real what they had been learning on the planetarium ceiling just a few hours before.

I had known nothing about their day's activities, and was moved almost to tears by the thrilled expressions on their faces as we finally went inside. We were chilled to the bone, but exhilarated. From that point on this evening was one of the most productive sessions we had.

The point of it all was their profound realization that they could feel those extraordinary feelings of delight and newness and satisfaction without any involvement with chemistry. They had re-discovered the "natural" high.

All of this because my head told me the right thing to do, and, of course it did have a little something to do with the sky...............