Wednesday, February 11, 2009

effective mumbling

So she came into my office today for the first time. She was composed but looked a little scared. She had never done anything like this before and wasn't sure what was going to happen. She hadn't even watched "In Treatment." I guess she didn't have HBO.

So I asked her if she had any trouble finding my office and she talked about the traffic and then she said she came from work so she talked about the stress from work, so I asked a couple of questions about work and about stress, and then about the pressure she felt being the most successful daughter in the family, and how her father was quiet and her mother always tried to solve every one's problems bu was always getting it wrong. And she kept talking about work, and her family and then her boyfriend who she like but thought he was lazy, and she didn't know how much that really bothered her, so she cried. Near the end of the session she began to talk about how she was realizing how much pressure she had been living with, and how it has been coming from all directions, and now she has to lay people off in her department and that is braking her heart and mind.

I mumbled (I really do mumble) a few off-handed comments near the end to lighten the mood so she could go back out into the world feeling decent. She thanked me and said this was much different than she ever expected, and she couldn't believe how much just talking about something could be so helpful.

"That's what we do," I said.

Next week I will make quarters disappear while juggling.

2 comments:

KathyA said...

Could you post a photo of that? :)

Lena said...

It must feel so good when it works like that.