As part of organizing my new desk, I sorted through a file overflowing with scraps of paper covered with scribbled instructions from various practitioners I’ve seen over the years. Doing this brought up memories of each therapist, coach, doctor or nurse practitioner that I’ve consulted. They each gave me something different, but the ones who were most helpful had something in common that I started to notice as I made decisions about which notes to save.
When my osteopath suggests an exercise for me to try, he sometimes tells me how many months or years he had to do the same exercise before he reaped rewards. I’ve noticed he shares these personal stories when I look discouraged and overwhelmed.
One of my Tai Chi Chih teachers once confessed, without fanfare, when we were discussing the importance of regular practice, that she had trouble maintaining her own daily practice.
My meditation teacher mentions in talks that seem directly aimed at me, how 99% of people have difficulty maintaining consistent meditation practice. She says that she includes herself in this statistic and only knows one person who fits in the one percent.
These healers were being vulnerable by telling me their own struggles. Some of you may be thinking that professionals need to be professional and not share their own vulnerabilities. I believe there is a fine line professionals have to walk in deciding what to share with their patients.
Now that I’m retired, I write these posts with the intention of being as vulnerable as I can because I believe sharing my struggles will be helpful to you. I admit that I wouldn’t have written some of these posts if I was still seeing you as clients. I don’t know if I’m pleased with that decision or not but it’s how I thought about it at the time. You can tell from the examples I shared above that I respond to and learn from hearing other people’s vulnerabilities.
I’m curious how difficult it is for you to be vulnerable with others and what you think about professionals being vulnerable with their patients. As always, I love hearing from you.
IMAGE: Phot taken in 2012 when we were visiting Colorado.
