A question that has been heavy on my mind recently, "How have we become society full of Experts and Gurus"?
While I feel self help, motivational books and speakers are all well and good (I've read/heard plenty myself). I worry too many people in our society take what they read or hear as fact and have stopped thinking for themselves. Why do we believe that someone else knows how to live OUR life better than OURSELVES? Do we truly believe, someone knows how to raise and educate our children better as well too?
There was a time when we looked to our parents, family and friends as the inspiration behind our ideas. Grant it, I would not like to emulate many of the family and friends I know
Just as any parent with more than one child can tell you, “what works for one child does not necessarily work for the other”. So holds true, “that which works for one family does not necessarily work for another”!
In my experience being flexible and avoid being stagnant in my view works best. Realizing that life is ever changing as is my family. That when something or someone no longer fits into our lives, make us feel good or weigh us down; it is okay to let go and change course. We do not need to stay stuck just because we were told to by “the experts”.
What makes someone an expert anyway?? An educational degree? Working in a field for x number of years? Life experience? (well, if your not living my life, can you really have MY life experience to be an expert in???)
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that we all need to trust ourselves to be the experts in our own life and with our own families. Books and Speakers are wonderful as a starting point but we need not make others' Truth our own! Believe in ourselves. Take the time to explore, try new things and not be too hard on ourselves when we fail. When we do fail, learn from our mistakes and move on.
I wish you Peace and Happiness in finding your Truth Today!
1 comment:
While it is true that no one else can know you or your family as intimately, sometimes, our very intimacy, being in the center of it so to speak, makes our own view less clear. Having someone who is more detached emotionally, more objective, who might see some things we're not seeing, can be an enormous help in sorting through various life, relational and family problems and issues. Most good therapist/counselors try to enhance what's working well for people while clarifying, or helping to clarify, those things that are not working so well and to help people find solutions within the context of their family, culture and values. It's much less about someone else being an "expert" about any individual or family, but about providing an objective view and giving feedback that might help people function in a more healthy way if they are having problems in any area. And yes, I'm a spiritual director, graduate student counselor AND an unschooling parent of four nearly grown up kids, retired home birth midwife and provide care for people who are struggling with life at any given moment; sometimes, they just need someone to talk to who will listen respectfully and give feedback that seeks to open up issues for dialogue and healing.
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