Wednesday musings, 8/5/15

A client recently came in for her last session. She was in a mood, irritated with work, frustrated she didn’t do as much between our sessions as she had the previous week, and annoyed she couldn’t continue with me for financial reasons. I did my best to provide a calm, focused session for her that both reinforced what we spent the last two months working on and progressed some of the things at which she had grown proficient. I felt her energy begin to shift about 30 minutes in, and by the end of the session, she was much calmer. As we were finishing up, she looked at me and said, “thank you. You have helped me tremendously.” Her words were sincere, and it made the the challenge of the first 30 minutes fall away.

It is so easy to forget to say thank you, especially when life is treating us in a way that seems unfair. It is so much easier to focus on what isn’t working in our favor, rather than being grateful for what is. Saying thank you not only makes the recipient feel good, it also provides a subtle shift for the person expressing gratitude. I recently wrote a thank you note to my high school english teacher. She worked tirelessly to teach us how to write well, using the tools of grammar and the power of our voice to express ourselves. Even though I highly doubt she remembers me, I hope it brightens her day a little bit when she reads it.