The curious tale of chasing time and the mercurial peach

How often is it that we feel obliged to say “yes” to every demand placed upon us knowing fine well that we already have too much to do in the first place?

How often do you hear, “it is good to be stretched” or “sure it is a challenge” when more tasks are piled on top of a very long “to do” list?

How many people do you know scurry around flapping like a budgie, bouncing around the room like a burst hose pipe and don’t actually start doing anything near productive until 5 minutes before deadline?

Even if you have a plan or a schedule somehow time never seems to be there to get things done. An illusion, an elusive shadow that you seem to constantly chase but just like the mercurial peach is destined to be just out of reach.

But what if you  say “no” occasionally and not feel guilty as long as you can explain the reasons behind it (reasonable ones about tasks in hand, deadlines already expected not childish “it’s not fair”, “why me?”)

Perhaps it is ok to be “stretched” or “challenged” occasionally indeed I would suggest it is essential that we get out our comfort zones once and awhile to see what we are made of.

Maybe the flappers and bouncers require to channel their energies in a more productive way, find out what they are good at and leave them to it, leaving you to get on with the things you need to get done without the distractions.

Sure everybody knows if you don’t plan you plan to fail, right? However maybe the plan needs to be flexible to consider the possibility that time needs to cherished, loved, taken care of to ensure that it will always be there for you instead of chasing after it like a desperate drunk seeking a partner for the last dance.

And who knows maybe, just maybe, you will get your hands on and taste the sweet juices of the mercurial peach.

 

Open for business

I was at a training day recently and was discussing various techniques and strategies with my colleagues , as you do, about the services we as therapists provide.(the course was relating to the effectiveness of hypnotherapy dealing with depression)

We were flying, all buzz, buzz, buzz , take on the world with our new found knowledge – bring it on…

But and here is the rub very few of us are seeing many clients on a regular basis.

So burst as we may with techniques for helping anything and everything relating to emotional and psychological concerns, they are not worth a jot if your only clients are the office cat and the invisible man.

Now this may all be down to the dreaded austerity measures and gloomy budget deficit talk which seems to permeate throughout the popular media (indeed one of my colleagues had a situation where all his clients due to see him cancelled following a depressing government announcement about budget cuts).

 Another therapist suggested that the market was over saturated with therapists. Indeed Ireland is not a big place and the Irish are leaving for foreign shores by the bucket load (well aeroplane load really), so maybe it is an ever decreasing circle or race to the bottom as one therapist described it as we undercut each other chasing the shadows. 

Now one therapist did say that they were overrun with clients, albeit after spending a considerable amount of time and money on their website.

So its open for business for all clients (the cat’s had enough and the invisible man always seems to disappear when it comes to settle his bill).