It might help to concentrate on developing a vision and strong sense of values rather than on the usual psychological issues of emotion and relationship.

Over time, you may tell it more effectively, and its sheer beauty will help you and connect you to the people in your life. You will find unexpected pleasure in the aesthetics of your thoughts and words, and that, too, will keep you going deeper, looking for further insights and language.

The experience of beauty is not just one of pleasantness but of the power of an image to give order and to clarify your situation.

Nurses especially will tell you that given two people with the same condition, one will improve and the other will fail, depending on subtle and mysterious factors that aren’t considered by medicine. Medicine doesn’t have a language for this invisible world that is implicated in illness and healing.

In a highly intelligent and sensitive book, Give Sorrow Words, psychiatrist Dorothy Judd tells the poignant story of Robert, a seven-yearold boy with leukemia, and his two years of painful treatment. In her conclusion she mentions the importance of a medical staff providing clear and honest information, so that people can decide whether agonizing treatment is worth a few more months of life. She also describes how important it is to care for the emotions of patient and family, noting that the ending of a life can be meaningful for everyone involved. Dr. Judd is clearly a doctor of the soul.