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by Steve Johnson (Author)
Long before psychotherapy many of the mental health issues were handled informally within families, in churches and synagogues, and through reading and meditating on the wisdom found in great literature. The poetry of Emily Dickinson is filled with wisdom in so many different areas of life-nature, death, love, faith, the self, and emotions. Her poetry deeply touches the soul in its terse verses that contain so much wisdom packed into few words. It is therapy in verse and can help move each of us beyond our self-defeating thoughts and unhealthy emotions to a place of peace amid life's problems, even the gnawing questions about eternity. I had originally hoped to have one snippet of poetry for each of the fifty-three weeks in a year, but the final count was just shy. I chose only to select those short verses that jumped out at me with their significance. It is not that other verses weren't powerful, but they didn't move me in the same ways these verses did. I hope you find the wisdom of Emily Dickinson as contained in these snippets relevant to your life such that you will want to share them and discuss them with others, who like you have a desire to live the deep life.
