June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

These are happy days for me. I am alone at home a lot as I am only working two days a week. Yesterday I jogged through Upper Bidwell Park to my favorite spot near the Chico Creek. It is so very different to swim in the creek than in the swimming pool at the gym. I meditated while I sat on the  lava rocks. As I closed my eyes it came to me that I had nothing  to talk about with myself. I am more peaceful these days. I have been writing beautiful songs to melodies of classical music and it dawned on me that I have always been attracted to adagios.  

We are going to have our house painted in Chinese yellow with green for the rims and dark read for our front door. Yesterday evening we ate roasted lam. As I was busy with the BBQ in the back yard, I saw a red dragon fly landing on a pole in the vegetable garden. Since my wife had also seen him, a thought of her father occurred. We laughed and said that he was coming to visit us disguised as a dragon fly. I went to bed early and woke up early. It is still dark and it is cool. There are gaps of silence in which there are no thoughts. The thoughts which appear are calm and satisfying. I have found another melody to which I will write some lyrics. When I hear beautiful music the words come by themselves. I love to sing and these new songs make me sing.

As I was jogging in the hills of Upper Bidwell park I realized how much I love this rugged North Californian land. I like to jog and jump over rocks. It makes my jogging a more stimulating event then when I jog on a flat path. My body constantly adjusts to the elevations of the path and that gives me energy. I was reminded of the times we hiked through the mountains and feel fortunate to have come to know the joy of being in nature. Many people don’t know about this. Usually I don’t meet anyone on my way.


While watching water flowing over the big black boulders my thoughts were about climate change and water scarcity. While people dry up their laws, I was sitting on a rock near this pristine creek. With one ear I could hear the sound of the creek upstream and with the other ear I could hear the sound downstream. The sound of the creek seemed to be streaming through me and it was so refreshing, so beautiful and abundant. After taking a bath and meditating my jogging was invigorated. I ran bear-chested along the trail which gave me different views of the creek.  

My body feels healthy. I am grateful my parents taught me that walking is good. I am reminded I need to repair my bicycle with tools I borrowed and give back tomorrow.  I like riding my bicycle in the park with Bonnie and will do that this weekend. My writing is one day ahead. A while ago, it was five days ahead, but lately, I have been taking it so easy that I am back to the right day. I play this game to write ahead of the day which is happening and enjoy the feeling of being ahead of my time. 


Today I meet someone who plays classical guitar and we are going to see if he can accompany my songs. He is very good. I heard him perform a week ago. Also, tonight there will be open mike at the Has Beans coffee shop. I plan to sing two songs and recite a poem. Each time I was there everyone loved what I was doing. I enjoy having found such an appreciative audience. 

Someone from the Open Mike had called me and had asked me to talk with him about Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). He had experienced and understood it. It had changed his conversations with his friends. During our conversation he became so quiet that I had to ask: “Are you still there?” He answered he was soaking in what I was saying. I could tell he was a very sensitive person, but often misunderstood and not feeling validated. He said that he was looking forward to hearing me sing my next song.  

With this writing I have jumped ahead another day and it is such fun to be able to do that. My life is arranged differently because of this playful perspective. It is a creative phenomenon.  I hope that you, the reader who reads this, will be inspired and hopeful as it is to you that I am writing and talking.