Sometimes it helps to take stock of where one has been in life to appreciate the present or even to understand the ground for one’s next step. So, I have reached that reflective moment. I don’t have to go stand on a cliff and look out to sea in order to feel wistful; all I have to do is to think about my time here and the people I’ve gotten to know.I have been here in Bermuda for more than six years. I can remember when I first came and where I first lived. I rented a nice but small apartment overlooking Bond Bay, just below Fort Hamilton, and I walked everywhere. I worked at Ashton Associates, and when it closed its doors, Vaughn Mosher at Benedict Associates picked up my work permit. I’ve been there ever since. I have also lived in Devonshire, Sandys, and now live in Southampton. I love Somerset. I used to take the ferry from Watford Bridge into work, and at night I’d walk from there back home to our apartment on Westside Road, overlooking the ocean.I’ve eaten at Four Ways Inn for Christmas brunch (superb), and I’ve eaten at Woody’s for cod fish (also superb, but an entirely different experience). For a time my wife and I would eat regularly at The Spot, and we’ve also been many times to Green Lantern, and Traditions. We’ve been to the Fairmonts in both locations, Portofino’s, Harbourfront, House of India, Latin, Rustico, Salt Rock Grill, Whitehorse Pub & Restaurant, Frog and Onion, Bolero, Lobster Pot, La Trattoria, and Flanagan’s. We have a few special places, which are special to us. We like Bonefish and Amici’s in Dockyard, partly for the food and partly because we like the people who work there and the man who owns those places Livio Ferigo (a bigger heart and a larger enthusiasm one could hardly find). We like Rosa’s, because it’s Rosa’s. We often alternate between the Swizzle Inn and Tio Pepe’s.When I first came to Bermuda, my employer told me to wait before starting to write this column, because he thought I needed to really understand what Bermuda was like before writing to give any advice. I don’t think he understood exactly what I had in mind; I was never intending to give Bermudians advice. I hoped to explore with people what it was like to be in Bermuda and to walk among the various cultures here. There are guest workers and there are Bermudians. There are exempt companies and local service providers of various kinds. There are educational professionals. There are construction workers. There are the wealthy. There are the high achievers with more options than they can handle. There are people who are hopeless because they don’t really see avenues of opportunity. There are those with relationship problems, psychological problems, neurological problems, and there are those who create problems for others.My wife and I have fellow-shipped with four different churches while we’ve been here. One was a mixed-race church. Two were largely black churches composed mostly of Bermudians. One is an affluent church with established Bermudians, largely white. I don’t like having to use the racial descriptors, but it does get something across. If it were up to me alone, I’d be forever tucked away in some study with books, but God gave me a woman who goes to sales, gets together with people on eMoo to go walking, and who pulls me along for the ride as she socialises with people of all kinds and from all corners of this society. What she does not provide in terms of variety, I get from my practice.I have worked with all kinds of people here in Bermuda, from all strata of society. I’ve worked with the very wealthy and the very poor. I’ve worked with guest workers exploited by unscrupulous employers and I’ve worked with entitled Bermudians who expect the business world to revolve around them. I’ve worked with organisations and political parties. I’ve worked with groups, families, couples, and individuals.I am a clinical psychologist with a wealth of expertise, and I’m an organisational consultant and coach. I’ve helped people who are depressed, anxious, panic-stricken, lost in life, struggling to deal with an unfaithful spouse or struggling with being an unfaithful spouse, with people dealing with domestic violence, psychosis, drug and alcohol addiction, co-dependency, and various disorders that leak out sideways through physical symptoms. I have conducted psychological evaluations and parenting capacity assessments. I’ve worked with sexual offenders and with those who have been offended against. I’ve worked with families involved in the gang violence, with those whose loved ones have been murdered here, and with those who fear that the violence might wash over they themselves.I am foremost a clinical psychologist, but I am also a former pastor, and so occasionally, but consistently, people have come to me for spiritual problems they did not feel comfortable talking with their pastor about.When I write for this column I try to bring out the three currents that affect me here: clinical psychology, spirituality, and life in Bermuda. I suspect that most people think of me as the Christian psychologist, as if the only kind of person I see is someone who is a Christian. That is not true. I’ve worked with Muslim, Jewish, Hindi, and Buddhist people as well, and I’ve also worked quite successfully with people who have no identified spiritual commitments. I take people as they are with what they want to talk about.I work to clarify and make sharp what the issues actually are, and I attempt to increase awareness of them so that people can connect up the dots of their various situations and discover the solutions that work best for them. I attempt to forge a comfortable and real relationship with my clients, so that they feel safe to talk about things that they have not been able to talk to anyone else about.So, I reflect on where I’ve been in my practice here, and I continue to be busy with it. I feel like I’ve really gotten to know Bermuda. I feel like I’ve been given a great privilege to work with amazing people. I take my hat off to my clients, because I’ve witnessed and been with them during some of the most challenging moments of their lives, and I’ve seen courage and hard work. I’ve seen people grow. I’ve seen people endure and prevail through nasty and difficult trials.Thank you, Bermuda. I am looking back over you to appreciate the present and to take care in how I step.