Thursday, 24 February 2012, approaching 4:30pm.

Another session with my psychiatrist was coming to an end.

I’d told him several things about the past week, and it had been good to get it out of my system.

Now, though, it was time to physically unwind, and as I sat there across the coffee table from him I decided to do some breathing and closed my eyes.

Inhale from the belly…one, two, three, four…and exhale…

Inhale from the belly…one, two, three, four…and exhale…

Inhale from the belly…one, two, three, four…and exhale…

And so on.

Soon, I began to feel very calm and relaxed.

My psychiatrist sat there quietly, as he always does when I unwind like this.

Inhale from the belly…one, two, three, four…and exhale…

I continued to feel better overall, and having my eyes closed heightened my other senses, especially my hearing.

Inhale from the belly…one, two, three, four…and exhale…

Bliss.

Calm.

Serenity –

– and then suddenly my psychiatrist’s telephone rang, less than a metre away on his nearby desk.

But in my current state of darkness with my heightened hearing, it didn’t just ring.

It exploded.

And as you may recall from my previous entry in this series, I startle very easily.

My eyes flew open and my arms flew out.

And my whole body launched from my seat, several centimetres into the air.

As I came back down, I saw that my psychiatrist was already smiling – not malevolently, but very amused.

I didn’t begrudge him that, though, because in his situation I would have done the same thing.

I apologised for my over-reaction, but he kept smiling and reassured me that there was nothing to be sorry for.

I settled back into my chair as much as I could in my sudden new wide-awake state. Which wasn’t much.

But 10 minutes later, after our session had ended, I made the next train to the city in no time.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂