Psychotherapist Mark Lang explains how Bob Dylan helped him to become a Psychotherapist.

While working on a project with a client during, “Mental Health Awareness” month, I had the honor of meeting and working along side many individuals in the field of Mental Health. Counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and techs, volunteers of all kinds, and public speakers were all doing their part to share information on the subject. One evening, as an event was starting to wind down, I noticed through the fast moving bodies, a man sitting down reading, “Tarantula,” a book of experimental prose poetry by Bob Dylan. As I approached him, I noticed the book marker on the chair next to him with the Bob Dylan quote, “People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.” His name was Mark Lang, a South Florida based Psychotherapist and founder of, Mark Lang Talk Therapy. After a greet and some small talk about the event, I asked him about his love for Bob Dylan. His initial words were, “Bob is a God to me.” With that statement, I pulled out my phone and started to record our converation. This was his story on why Bob was so important to him:

“As a mental health professional for the majority of my life, my first therapist was Bob Dylan. He was a life coach, mentor, father figure, and gave me a view of the world while I was too young to see. I am a historian of his work and how he has conducted himself as a person. Bob was and always will be my role model.

Bob was a risk taker with a notion that eventually became reality. He had a desire to visit Woody Guthrie on his deathbed, which would become a lesson in sacrifice, resilience and determination. He never settled, and constantly reinvented himself. I learned how to deal with authority figures from his stories. In the sixties, he was labeled, “The voice of a new generation.” When asked how he perceived this label, his wit took over spontaneously and he stated, “ I always considered myself a song and dance man.” Another lesson was the importance of having a sense of humor and not taking ourselves too seriously. But he was much more than “Mr. Anti-Establishment.” He is a man of many visions, something everyone should strive for, but most never achieve. Peers and fans respected him, a professional everyone can look up to.

When we all think of Dylan we each have different perceptions. When I felt depressed over a breakup, I found comfort in “Love Sick.” It taught me the meaning of loss and grief. The hopeless or hopeful romantic in me understood his words in, “Girl From The North Country.” And the unrequited love of, “Boots of Spanish Leather,” taught me another kind of love: Knowing when to let go, and to let his lover grow without him. He challenged my curiosity about the human condition with his writing of, “The Ballad of Hollis Brown,” teaching me humility and gratitude, discrimination, poverty, hunger, loss of hope and faith, hallucinations, death and reincarnation. Mr. Dylan’s lines, “Your children are so hungry, that they don’t know how to smile,” stabs me right in the heart. This was my first exposure to a bio-psycho-social, and eventually geared me towards my profession.”

Contact Mark Lang at:

3301 South Palm Aire Drive Suite 207, Pompano Beach, FL, 33069

marklang8@gmail.com

(954)-495–7825

linkedin.com/in/marklangtherapy

Bob Dylan, My Psychotherapy Influencer was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When the Miami Marlins’ new stadium was built, a room inside the stadium was made for this man, Hugo ‘Juice’ Tandron, the private and official barber of the Miami Marlins, and the only official barber in all of Major League Baseball. Thanks to him, every player on the team goes on the field looking good. Juice has been a renowned barber in Miami for almost two decades, turning a life of crime into an American success story. He never imagined that picking up his moms’ clippers to trim his own hair, would one day bring him from the streets of Carol City to the Major Leagues. In 2001, he decided to turn his passion into a career by opening Headz Up Barber Shop® in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Today, the internet is filled with interviews of the Miami legend from many major news platforms such as ESPN, Univision, Telemundo, Fox News, Men’s Health, MLB News, Miami Herald, Miami New Times, IB Times UK, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Sun Sentinel to name a few. The walls of his barbershops are filled with signatures and photos of celebrities from all walks of life. Miami music legend PitBull, DJ Laz, actor Antonio Banderas, UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington, baseball legends Mark McGwire, Bryce Harper, long time friend Jose Fernandez (the late Miami Marlins’ star pitcher), and many more can be seen photographed next to Juice.

During his career he has made as low as $5 to as much as $10,000 for a single haircut. Juice is in such high demand that some clients fly in from out of state, and some baseball players refuse to play without first getting their haircut from the Master Barber. The tattoo over his left eyebrow reads, “Blessed,” which is the perfect word to describe his rags to riches story. When asked what quote he lives by his response was, “I Dreamt, I Believed, I Achieved.”

Follow Headz Up Barber Shop and Hugo ‘Juice’ Tandron on social media at:

Instagram.com/JuiceHeadzUp

Twitter.com/HeadzUpJuice

Facebook.com/JuiceHeadzUp

Meet Miami Icon, Hugo Tandron a.k.a. “Juice.” was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.