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Published Online: 29 April 2022

A Tribute to the Mind

Margaret Y. Yau, M.S.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal
Volume 17, Number 3
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2022.170305
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The Mind
    an emergent property
    of the most complex organ
    of all living beings—the brain,
    billions of neurons firing, firing;
    electrical impulses vrooming, vrooming;
    chemical messengers drift across
    trillions of nanoscale connections—
    empowers all that makes us human:
Emotions
    vary as the vibrant colors of a transient rainbow—
    Ire, fear, joy, grief, surprise, disgust, contempt—
    rays of laughter, raindrops of sorrow,
    tides of anxiety ebb and flow.
    Who could forecast one’s fickle moods,
    or calm these undulating waves,
    or stop the howling wind
    even before they all begin?
Thoughts
    positive or negative, bring
    cheerful smiles or desolate tears.
    Conscious quests for innovation
    spark flashes of insights;
    subconscious insecurities
    spawn palpable apprehension.
    Twisted, convoluted delusions detach one
    from reality, seeing, hearing, feeling
    non-existent entities materialized within
    an ostensibly harmonious universe.
    Who could decipher the brain’s perplexing language,
    the mind’s dominating power over
    our perception of reality and surreality,
    sieving through entangled webs of intangible abstraction?
Actions
    seemingly simple as a
    blink of an eye, flick of a finger,
    or endlessly enchanting as
    elegant arabesques, intricate somersaults,
    virtuoso performances, driven by
    symphonies of interacting neurons.
    Acts of kindness engender warmth
    that enlivens the entire atmosphere;
    acts of violence induce darkness
    that permeates the sweetest dreams,
    cast ponderous shadows of dread
    that constant vigilance cannot lift.
    Who could imagine that a single organ
    of white and gray can impact so much,
    enable emotions, thoughts, and
    actions that define one’s destiny,
    let alone shape the future of the universe?
    Who will tackle the disorders of the mind,
    empathetically listen and observe
    its workings hour after hour,
    unlocking the link between
    the tangible and the intangible?

Acknowledgments

The author thanks all psychiatrists for their inspiration.

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Go to American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal
American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal
Volume 17 • Number 3 • April 29, 2022
Pages: 13

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Published online: 29 April 2022
Published in print: April 29, 2022

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Margaret Y. Yau, M.S.
Ms. Yau is a fourth-year medical student in the School of Medicine, University of California, Riverside.
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