For the past week, I've been awakened by rain pounding on the rooftop, fresh cool air drifting in from the open windows. It is July, right? Feels more like May. I've been spending my mornings sipping tea and reading, my evenings watching movies and slugging around like it's fall or winter-minus the dark afternoons and chilliness. It's surreal, even in this rainy state. I kind of like it. I complain like it's the end of the world, "Raining again?" But I must admit it's somehow comforting. Perhaps it's nostalgia of so many childhood days spent playing inside. Maybe it's just a welcome reprieve from the sun, which, btw, my skin has yet to be tanned by so far this summer. Or is it that the rain welcomes introspection, meditation? Something I need right now...
I've just finished my first counseling class and am only now starting to process what I've learned. In a nutshell, I guess the most important thing has been reaffirming my belief that we all have stuff to deal with but we can, if we want, get better. Wow, that's pretty simple. But true. Sometimes I get really sad when I think of all the pain and suffering every human being has to endure just being on this earth, just living and growing. I still feel for me, for them, for all of us. But I am more hopeful now. It's crazy how a little bit of awareness can change so much. The other day I caught myself telling my nephew I was "decatastrophizing" -- talking myself out of overreacting to a situation. I think the capacity we have to train ourselves to change unhealthy behaviors is inspiring! Of course, no one is perfect and we will all slip back into old patterns and scold ourselves for them, but we can also make decisions in the moment to create new reactions, outlooks, behaviors. This is what I hope to practice and impart to clients someday: that we can choose to change. Sounds like a mantra.
Last year a colleague asked me abrubtly, "What is your life's work?" I answered, without thinking, "It's about healing and transformation." I had no idea what I was talking about then but it felt right. Now it seems like this notion of healing and transformation is at the center of all the disparate pieces of my life. It's the glue that holds me together.
I've just finished my first counseling class and am only now starting to process what I've learned. In a nutshell, I guess the most important thing has been reaffirming my belief that we all have stuff to deal with but we can, if we want, get better. Wow, that's pretty simple. But true. Sometimes I get really sad when I think of all the pain and suffering every human being has to endure just being on this earth, just living and growing. I still feel for me, for them, for all of us. But I am more hopeful now. It's crazy how a little bit of awareness can change so much. The other day I caught myself telling my nephew I was "decatastrophizing" -- talking myself out of overreacting to a situation. I think the capacity we have to train ourselves to change unhealthy behaviors is inspiring! Of course, no one is perfect and we will all slip back into old patterns and scold ourselves for them, but we can also make decisions in the moment to create new reactions, outlooks, behaviors. This is what I hope to practice and impart to clients someday: that we can choose to change. Sounds like a mantra.
Last year a colleague asked me abrubtly, "What is your life's work?" I answered, without thinking, "It's about healing and transformation." I had no idea what I was talking about then but it felt right. Now it seems like this notion of healing and transformation is at the center of all the disparate pieces of my life. It's the glue that holds me together.
They say the clouds will clear up in a day or so.
The rain will stop and sun will pull me outside.
What good is a life without change?
