Wow. The reality of my job is that I spend much of my time 'walking' with people through the darkest times of their lives. To be honest, as much as I deny that I let cases get to me, they do...they have to. You cannot be empathetic with another person and it not affect you one some level.
...but this isn't about me.....
Wow. The life situations that people manage to struggle through day by day....people amaze me.
What amazes me most is the ability of people to see the beauty in the darkest of situations.
(Here's a trade secret. Shhhh. Don't tell anyone....)
The one of the greatest skills in counselling is active listening. Okay..that's no secret, but...the primary goal in the process of listening is to help guide people to find their own solutions to their problems. There, I've said it. Counsellors (outside of a little questioning and repetition of what has been said) do nothing at all in the healing of people. We just encourage people to find the solutions for their problems that work best for them and gently suggest that they implement those solutions.
What amazes me is the ability of people to find possibilities and hope in situations that sound hopeless. I'm GLAD that they find their own solutions! Sometimes I'm not sure what I would do if I was in their situation!
I started reflecting on this after listening to the U2 song "Beautiful Day" this morning on my way to work and thinking about some of the issues that clients and friends of mine are going through today....you know who you are.
Bono has stated that this is a song "about losing everything but still finding joy in what you have."
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Here are the lyrics. Read them. I love the religious references that slip in there.
At the bottom of the lyrics is the video.
Crank up the volume...and have a Beautiful Day!
"Beautiful Day"
The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
But there's no room
No space to rent in this town
You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere
You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Always
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace
Always
It's a beautiful day
Day
The sky falls and you feel like
Day
It's a beautiful day
Day
Don't let it get away
Day
You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you
Always
It's a beautiful day
Day
Don't let it get away
Day
It's a beautiful day
Day, day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case
See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by clouds
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light and
See the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
Day, day
It was a beautiful day
Day
Don't let it get away
Day
Beautiful day
Day, day
Touch me
Day
Take me to that other place
Day
Reach me
Day
I know I'm not a hopeless case
Day
What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
It was a beautiful day
Day
It's warm in the sun, I reach to the sun
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