Bath time ruminations

I look across the classroom at the faces of undergraduate students. I think to myself, “I wonder if they realize that I was a child once.” For, now I must seem old to them. My short gray hair, cheeks sagging a little, and there is a slow limp to my step. I stand before them talking about syllabi and schedules, expectations, and attendance grades. They take notes and gaze in my direction. Some seem alert and even pleased to be here. Others look weary and lonely; probably wishing they were anywhere else but here. I think about ways I might connect with them so that they will believe me when I try and teach them about compassion and kindness for all young children in their future classrooms ...

Revelation.

I have been going to therapy for years for self-alteration. To become a better person. Not to become happier. Indeed, therapy was a perfect avenue for me because I could say to myself over and over again – there is something wrong with me and I need to fix me. Now my therapist explains in a way that I can hear. He says he is always telling me (at times he thinks it must seem as if he is trying to bash me over the head) that I am more than okay. He goes onto tell me that this information should make me feel better, and yet I argue with him. Over and over again he has been explaining to me that it is other people who have hurt me over and over again. Instead of me realizing that and allowing them to own their behaviors and insults to me, I take on the problem as if it is my fault. I tell him that I came to therapy to fix me, and now he is telling me there is nothing to fix, nothing to alter.

via tamarika.typepad.com

I posted this one year ago, and I can't get over how it is completely relevant to me this morning. The only thing for me to add is that I totally understanding why I have been so angry and full of regret this past year. Because of wasted time. Of course, over wasted time and energy! So, now - no more regrets. New Year's resolution: onward and upward!

Time to like me, and enjoy life to the fullest!

Comments

[Tamar Flower]

Wonderful post.

I also am in therapy to help me become a better person and be more aware of my own thinking and behaviors as well as challenging them. Therapy is an amazing process and journey (sometimes painful and resentful) which has made me really think about the person I want to be and want to become.