03

May

Blog

Category

The Beauty of Kayaking .

My family moved to Missouri from Galveston, Texas in the summer of 1995.  That fall, I discovered the joy of kayaking on the beautiful little Huzzah River in Steelville.  I loved the sensations of gliding along a stream of clear, cold water and gazing down at sparkling river stones, fish, and turtles.  Since then I have returned to the Huzzah, and enjoyed a number of other river adventures in Missouri, California, and Mexico. I have found that kayaking satisfies me in ways that no other activity can, and leaves me feeling happy, centered, and satisfied.

The beauty of a single-person kayak is that it can be nimble, and can go over shallow waters and around trees, rocks, and other river obstacles with a little foresight and skillful paddling. If you are with a group, you can choose to take a less-traveled route at points where the stream diverges around islands, or you can paddle along with the pack, as you wish.

Bright Futures has some key features that I associate with kayaking. I associate rivers with life. Both are in continuous motion, and take us to destinations that are new and sometimes unknown. As an occupational therapist, I accompany people for brief periods along their life course, and my role is to facilitate their progression toward their destinations of choice. As an independent practitioner who is not answerable to any large bureaucratic entity, I am nimble, and can help people to maneuver around or through obstacles in nontraditional ways. At clients’ bidding, I can even facilitate their identification and exploration of possibilities that larger service agencies could not even dream of.

What places do you want to go in life?  Are you moving past and through the obstacles that are a part of everyone’s existence, or do you feel stuck?  Perhaps it’s time to trade a large cruise ship or 10-person tube for something a bit smaller, and more maneuverable!