Need some help with your ego?
So, Jill and I were walking around Georgetown, Malaysia today looking for temples to visit.
Trust me, that is not a hard job here as there are so many amazing temples from so many different cultures.
We’ve found churches, mosques, Buddhist temples from Burma (the only Burmese Buddhist temple outside of Burma/Myanmar at this time), one from Thailand, and temples from China. We even found one a tower that combines Chinese, Thai and Burmese religions and houses a 90 foot tall Kuan Yin statue that is awe inspiring.
However, since I work as a behavioral therapist, I noticed this sign and started laughing at it.
I think, in many ways, that an “ego pharmacy” would be a wonderful addition to any practice.
In fact, I think of myself as an ego pharmacist since I help people become more content and able to deal with stress in their life as my job.
If someone is having a bad time, or overwhelmed or dealing with anxiety, among other things, I help them using empathy and then techniques and skills which are proven, scientifically, to relieve those issues and allow the person to figure out what is best for their life and what is their best choice at this time for them.
People are constantly figuring out what is best for them and, therefore, behavioral therapy allows them to learn the skills that I know and be able to use them on their own to figure out what is right for them each and every day.
It is a wonderful job since I get to see people grow, change, and decide out what is right for them every day. I don’t know of many jobs that offer that kind of reward and allow for such a positive change in the world.
One of the beautiful parts of behavioral therapy is that my beliefs are not part of the issue for the client. They decide what is right for them and then figure out what choice they want to make and how they want to live their life. It will be their life and therefore it is up to them to take the responsibility and see what is right for them.
Interestingly, when people decide they don’t want to change and then they realize that this is still a choice to stay the same, and therefore, by taking responsibility for “not changing” they have made a choice and a change. It becomes a paradoxical intervention that by not changing, you are changing, and that allows people to change more quickly. It is also solely based on their own choice so they feel more in control and empowered to make, or not make, the change that they feel is needed at that moment.
So, if you want to change, or don’t and can’t figure out why it is so hard to be content, step on into the Ego Pharmacy and see what happens!