🎵So it's the laughter, We will remember. 🎵

(Subject complements of Barbara Streisand, and her top song of 1974, “The Way We Were.” )
(Maya Angelou watercolor by Marina Sotiriou)

I’m going to be 50 in a couple of weeks.

There are moments when it doesn’t seem real. They are tied to the reality of the present, the unknown of the future, and the reflection on the past.

I’ve (almost) made it, so that’s a start. I’ve ridden the ebbs and flows of being overworked, weight gain, laziness, work-life balance, health, and personal drive. Rock bottom can always be deeper, and the heights of our success always come with the question, ‘What’s next?’

So, what’s next?

From planting a seed, to a lightning strike, inquisition and inspiration can come from anywhere.

This quote is on the bathroom wall at my office (thanks Jessica & Brent).

"People will forget what you said.

People will forget what you did.

But people will never forget how you made them feel"

- Maya Angelou

I’ve spent months thinking about this quote, and no, not just because it’s in the bathroom.

The first and second sentences are tied to that misinformed game of telephone I’ll knowingly and unknowingly play with myself.  

I’ll shift the details of those misty watercolor memories and that’s what gets recorded in my brain. I’ll succumb to social pressures when telling a story and adjust details to make it more engaging for the listener. I’ll introduce cognitive biases of my own reality to fill in the gaps.  

Sound familiar? You’re not alone, we all do it.  

This dynamic is one of the reasons I’ve chosen this specific type of healing. We’re able to delve in, and make greater sense of scattered pictures your conscious and unconscious have conjured.

Have you ever had a fight with someone where you couldn’t agree on the details of what was said, or done?

I am sure that even without remembering details you know how they made you feel. But the good news is, on the flip-side the same can be said for positive interactions.  

My goal any time a client comes to see me is, they leave feeling better than when they walked in.  

Do you like to feel positive and warm? I do.

Do you like when you make someone else feel uplifted and put a smile on their face? I do.

If you had the ability and opportunity to make yourself and others feel better even more than you already do, why don’t you? Why don’t I?

It’s this sentiment of having others feel better, feeling good that I want ingrained in my being as I enter this next phase of my life.

Incrementally, brick-by-brick, that is the goal. Micro-interactions building macro-relationships. Micro-interactions simply build a positive moment with others and myself.

And when each day, week, month, year, and this next decade ends, I won’t need to think about what I said, or what I did. Those memories won’t need to tell me I’ve achieved my goal, I’ll feel it.  

Thanks and peace be the journey,
Pete