I’ve been a counselor since the late 1970s, a Masters Level Social Worker (MSW) since 1985 with a Pennsylvania license since 2001 and have what I call a ‘privileged listener’ far longer than that. Others who fit into that category are hairdressers, cab drivers, bartenders, and clergy. We get to hear stuff. I feel honored and trusted. I never take that role for granted.
I was often the go-to person for my friends even when I was in elementary school. As much as some of them thought I was from another planet when I expressed off the wall ideas, they still wanted to know what I thought about the goings on in their lives. They might not have been so off the mark with their perspective since I would tell my parents that I was an alien baby left on their doorstep. I think they actually believed me.
These days, my middle-aged brain gets picked for suggestions for projects, where to find resources and services, how to deal with petulant teenagers, what steps to take to bring a project from tiny seed to full blossom, ways to resolve conflicts between partners, start a new career, manage time, money and stress, mend a broken heart, and heal a wounded mind, calm a raging temper, and re-create one’s life. No small feats, any of these. There are times when the kid candy Pez® comes to mind. Remember the hinge-headed piece of plastic with fanciful characters from movies, television shows, and books? I don’t recall which I had, but I can bring back the taste of the rainbow-hued confections that all these years later would have me running to brush my teeth afterward. Clearly, I have matured.
When I consider how often throughout the day I am asked for advice, I am caught somewhere between fear and certainty. After all, folks wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have some accumulated wisdom, I reason. Decades of continuing education bolster my confidence. Years of living, riding the waves of love and loss, provide fodder for intervention. The fear arises when I wonder, “What if I get it wrong?” Did Ann Landers feel that way? I have been referred to as a ‘Spiritual Dear Abby,’ which gives me both grins and groans. I know that ultimately each person is responsible for the decisions they make.
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There are times when, in doubt, I go within and ask for guidance. The answers arise and I offer it. The recipient usually affirms the response. On the occasion when they don’t, I ask more questions of them. Maybe that is the key, ‘ask more, tell less.’ Emotional excavation brings about further cave exploration.
Sometimes the answers are a sweet treat that the person wants more of. At other moments, they pucker their mouth and scrunch up their face. Such is the dichotomy of being a Pez dispenser therapist.
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Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, certified Laughter Yoga Leader, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman’s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie writes for The Huffington Post, Psych Central, Beliefnet, Elephant Journal, The Good Men Project, Expanded Family, Meaningful Mom, Happenings Media, as well as a growing number of other venues. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com
