Emotional Pro

I’ve felt tired this morning. For the past two evenings, I have worked late and not returned home until 10:30 at night. Considering I am an early riser (6 a.m.), this made for long days. Yet, in my tiredness this morning, I am most aware that it is a happy tiredness. I LOVE my work! For nearly 40 years I have been a psychotherapist, most of that period as a private practitioner. This means I work for myself, create my own schedule, and, in general, conduct my work life the way it suits me best. Furthermore, I get to help people feel better about their lives! Writing “Born to Learn” has re-focused my attention on the “earth as giant school” model with which I work, enabling me to realize just how powerful this approach really is. Whether I worked with a physically disabled person, a psychotic, or a “garden variety” middle class couple, this week I have been able to see the joy of discovery, completion and understanding as people work with this model to understand what is going on with their lives. It helps them to see clearly what the “problem” is, what needs to be done about it, what consequences might ensue from making (or nor) changes, and what the rewards can be for themselves and those they love when they solve their particular “puzzle.” One man, with whom I worked for a few years, returned saying to me: “I’m your student. I came in to talk with you and tell you what has been happening with me, and how I have been using what you taught me.” How heartwarming! This person is busy building a business to help Katrina victims rebuild, something that will be good for the individual I know and good for New Orleans’ residents as well. I’ve noticed that no matter how tired I am, how frazzled or what else is going on in my life, whenever I show up in my office and start working with people on resolving their personal issues, I feel energized, fulfilled and wonderful. It is the way one feels when utilizing personal talents. It has got me to thinking how many people in this world get to to work that brings them as much fulfillment and pleasure as mine brings to me. This is one of the ways in which my life has been blessed. For many years, I didn’t know whether I was headed in the right direction. I chose Social Work because my husband chose it. I typed his papers and the subject matter interested me. I tried out the work for a year, then applied for graduate school. Even after graduating from U.C. Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare in California, I wasn’t sure I was in the correct field for me. One day a new friend told me of a remarkable woman, a retired nurse named Zonette Rossi, who purported to read people’s auras. Curious, and never having done such a thing, I made an appointment. In one room of her Santa Rosa home, she had a 55 gallon drum that had been cut in half, lenghtwise, and hinged on one side. A hole had been cut for a person’s neck. After undressing, I crawled into this individual sauna for the steam bath she said was necessary for her reading. While I was trapped in there, Ms. Rossi began to shake her finger at me as she lectured: “You should be a psychotherapist,” she told me. “You came to this lifetime to be a psychotherapist; you have talent for this job.” She was so involved in her lecture she didn’t hear my meager “but, but, but….” Finally, I burst out with “But I AM a psychotherapist!” She never skipped a beat. “Good,” she said firmly, “you’re one of the few people who has figured out what you are SUPPOSED to do!” This statement had a profound effect on me. Assured that I was doing the “right thing,” I freed myself up to throw myself into my work and enjoy it thoroughly, believing that I was doing what I came to the earth to do! 35 years after my visit with Ms. Rossi, it is still bringing me a deep and heartfelt pleasure. Thanks, Zonette!