A couple of things here tonight gang..
Firstly, I turned 39 the other day. Yep, I know what you’re thinking… Thanks for that!
In fact, it’s interesting, a few of the older-than-self friends & family did the whole rubbing their hands together gleefully bit, looking forward to my 40th, cackling with delight, the gits! An interesting response I thought.
Additionally, I was also overwhelmed by the many wellwishers that stopped by at my facebook to send me birthday wishes. Brilliant.
Now the (in my opinion) not so brilliant….
So I’m doing some training with a charity that helps unempowered people for the next couple of weeks.
Well, anyhoo, there’s someone on the course who is *wince* training to be a Counsellor. Let me be clear here, I don’t necessarily prescribe to oft lauded knee-jerk NLP response of slagging off Counselling. BUT, this particular delegate publicly demonstrates, and well, shares behaviours that could be described as well, off centre somewhat.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about being weird, but in the appropriate context. I know when to get lucid, and when to be a giddy goat. Here’s a wee snatch from my conversation with this person.
Person X: “blah.. the night I’ve had”
Me: “Oh? What happened?”
Person X: “A mouse broke into my house last night” (totally serious delivery)
Me: “Haha, ah nice one!”
Person X: “No, I’m serious you know, it broke into my house and it bit through one of my wires last night – it’s ruined the music stick” (what a music stick is, I don’t know, but was too full of dread to ask by this point).
Me: “Oh wow really, erm you need some pest control, right?” (unsure tonality)
Person X: “More than that, I demanded that I need to be moved, it’s very serious you know!”
Me: “Right. Ooh, exscuse me will you?” (fumbles for phone and walks away, as if trying to pick up call).
OK, so fairly harmless, if a little odd banter. But this person spent the day, openly within the course structure, about how she effectively is still suffering with anxiety, paranoia and behaviours symptomatic of OCD.
There’s certainly an argument for people who’ve experienced less than glorious stuff in their lives (and lived to get over it) going on to help other people who may be experiencing some similar set of tedious and annoying ways of being. Hell I’m all in favour of that, as long as protective mechanisms are in place that mean these wont be triggered (i.e. they’ve gone past threshold), but I certainly wouldn’t like to be consulted by someone who was likely to be sucked into the same old unuseful behaviours. What would be the point?
This post is deliberately ambiguous, for obvious reasons, but something I wanted to share!
Be Well,
Right, back to the midnight kettlebell sessions!
Al