Why is it when the weather turns dank and dreary so does the mind? As I age into what I believe to be some of the best years of my life, and am experiencing one of the truly best years of my life, I do understand, now, how the lack of sunshine and the amount of stressful events – both good and bad – can effect ones psyche. For years I taught such theories knowing they exist, but it takes experiencing stress reactions to present a broader empathetic consternation with the “feelings.” In other words, one can get downright ugly. That’s how I felt last night – remarkably, after a wonderful week – and I have tinges of the same foreboding this morning. Yes it is still raining and yes it is dark out, but beyond the obvious, this feels deeper. There seems to be a rift in me I can’t explain. Perhaps it’s the quandary of the unknown. While my manuscripts are being reviewed, I feel powerless over my life. I am writing a new novel, I am carrying on in the positive with meetings and movements of advancement, but this cycle of bad neurotransmitter release won’t go away. In her guidance and counseling, my wife has experienced this many times in the past and has taught me to sit with the feelings and see where they take me. Not to the extreme of the dark side, but to explore and contemplate. In my roustabout past, tents went up and covered many an emotion with some reaction of behavior I often would come to regret; 
however, that was before I had found writing and rediscovered my arts. Writing is certainly something that begins to shake the brain chemicals. Exercise does as well, but that has worked less the last couple of weeks. Painting seems to etch me from the lowest points to a new map of discovery through color and texture, but it is the written word that wins. Lastly, I also feel emotions around me to an extent I know now is earthshaking. I do mean that literally. I know all my life I have felt energy and auras of people close and far, but in my retirement and examination of self, these sensory perceptions have become much more visible on the horizon. In this discussion, I’m not sure if it’s the mood of the community and country, or if it’s some related, impending happening. Whatever the case, the new novel, “Jesus Walked Down My Alley” has been an appropriate vehicle to parlay that negativity into something that is weaving its way through plot and character to explain what I’m experiencing in the world around me. I shall work through the day to see a blue sky above the clouds and enlighten my spirit. Until that occurs, I shall write.
Dank and dreary
November 18, 2017
stewert james
The Author
An author with a story. Living in a quiet Northern Michigan community, nestled into a serene Lake Michigan bay, James writes to the rhythms of current events mixed with romanticism and experience that can only be found by living the same adventures. Whether it’s a provocative story line or blog, this website will certainly take you beyond the keyboard.
Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.