I am taking a sick day but New Dehli policewoman suggests women should dress appropriately not to be assaulted? Please, get with the program! Shame on you.

    
Our bodies are  magnificent machines.  It speaks to us.  It tells us to rest.  Today I am being told to rest.  I have been very busy lately and did I mention my poor car has been in the shop again?  Half a day was spent there.  I do hope my tiny road trip will be attainable.  I know something is not quite right with my car $450.00 later.  It was not my regular mechanic working on it.  He has worked on it so much that he knows exactly what is wrong, just like the people who work on my furnace.  My body needs care too and today it states, stop already, rest.  I had a wonderful physician who taught me how to listen to my body.  Unfortunately she retired.  So today, I only have one telephone conference on line and so that hopefully will go without a hitch.  I will spend most of my day sipping fluids.  I also have all the ingredients to make soup and that I shall do (I only have soup when I am sick.  I am drawn to it.  That is my body speaking and not me because I prefer other stuff).  I will hug my book on Stephen King, Under the Dome and forget about all the stuff I have to do.  I will put myself on pause.  I will indulge on forced rest.  I will also drop some Tylenol for colds if I can get it open.  Why do they have to child proof everything?  I have to be more careful.  I don't want to use a screwdriver to open up anything.    I have Stephen King's book right beside me so I am not tempted to work.  My body has spoken, enough is enough?  I even allowed myself more sleep today (one hour).  I lingered looking outside my back window and appreciated the nature I see.  I love watching the different birds and squirrels.  Hopefully, as the weather improves and as I keep my work at the office, I will separate work from home.  I know my pets will miss me for half a day on the computer.  Even they permitted me to sleep.  Normally, they will pounce on me if I am a moment late.  Sometimes, they will pounce on me to get me up earlier.  Then if I do not get out they howl like someone is getting murdered.  Who needs an alarm clock?   Since retirement I have rarely used an alarm clock.  My body is accustomed to sleep and rising at the same time. 
    But before I rest, I was troubled by something I watched on W5 last night.  As many of you who bother to read me on occasion know is that I tape all I watch.  I taped this newscast (I do not know how long ago) which had a segment about the sexual abuse of women in Delhi.  I had not planned talking about this so I do not recall the ridiculous amount of women being raped there.  They actually have the police check (like we do here for impaired drivers) vehicles to determine if they are holding women against their will.  That was a first for me.  I have to commend a city that implements that to protect women.  They also have subway cars specifically for women so they can get away from men pawing them.  What kind of men are these?  They also showed an interview with a woman who had been completely disfigured by having boys or men throw acid at her face because she resisted their advances and mockery.  Who does that?  But what disturbed me to the point that it stayed with me when I went to bed and when I awoke was an interview with a policewoman who was part of the spot checks.  This woman cautioned women regarding what they wear, going out at night and one other thing that did not stay with me.  I was not angry with her but I was disappointed.  I was and am concerned when I hear any police suggest that appropriate clothing can prevent rape or any form of sexual abuse.  I learned early in my first career that clothing has nothing to do with any form of sexual abuse.  It is all about power.  No man or child or woman can prevent sexual abuse by what he or she wears.  We are in the 21st century and people who should know that still do not?  All too often predators make the victims feel that they are responsible for the horrible things that happen to them.  They don't also need people in authority suggesting the same thing.  It does not matter if you are dressed in a sac, from head to foot.  So, policewoman in Delhi.  You are wrong.  Think about that the next time you say such a thing national wide.  We had a policeman say something similar at York University a while back that hit the news.  If you are going to speak at a university to women about how they should dress, think again.  Toronto Police reported that it was not the view of the Police Force.  I believe them.  But when you have people joining organizations that help others, they may have their own personal views which may not be accurate.  I have had and listened to many complaints about how men who should have known better didn't in positions of authority.  No woman, child or man deserves to be touched inappropriately ever.  If anyone is having sexual relations and they change their mind that is their right.  If you do not respect that, than it is your problem, not theirs. 
     I am beginning to understand why so many people want to come to Canada or the U.S.A to get away from all that repression and hate.  We are not perfect, but we try.  What works for us is the freedom of speech.  What works for us is respect for others.  Now how do we unite with the world so that every woman, man and child can live without fear and be fed and cared for?  Impossible?  I say nothing is impossible.  If you live long enough you see change.  What can you do for change?  What can you do for yourself?  If you have been abused either sexually, physically, emotionally, etc....what can you do to change that?  And please, do not let others ever tell you that you deserved it or you asked for it or it would not have happened if.......It is not your fault.  Surround yourself with support systems.  Stay in the company with people who love you and care for you.  Re-examine your life and your associates.
       And when you are sick how do you care for yourself?  What do you think?  Where do you find peace?

Busy Busy Busy - Busy

It has been a busy two weeks.  I now have a cold which will force me to rest.  I do practice what I preach and do balance my life because fun and R+R  are important to me.  But everyone experiences lots of stuff happening at the same time and these two weeks have been mine.  However, I love it all equally - work and play.
    Last week I organized my office, the way I like it.  It is so nice having my own office space.  I still counsel elsewhere one day a week, but now in my office, that is my domaine.  I can also separate work from home more.  I still enjoy writing at home but recently I have been too busy for that too.
    This week I went to a forum about the changes for seniors in Ontario.  I wrote some notes and will eventually post them.  I will also be getting a slide presentation of the event and will have to figure out how to get that to you.  Yesterday I attended an all day seminar regarding marketing my business.  I already know that people in my profession do not market too well.  We are concerned about people and how to help them not how to market, but that needs some work.  Saturday, I sold one book at the street fair but I networked a lot.  One person said they would refer to me, and I could refer to their organization.  That is one thing that does not work for me.  You see, what I do and how I refer is for what is best for my client and not for me.  That is business and even though I have a business, my service is to the people who come to me for help.  I have ethics and boundaries.  I also have intrinisic values and therefore, I will not refer for my benefit but only for the benefit of my clients.  I do not impose.  Much of what I have learned recently by networking and attending seminars is that attracting clients is almost like a game.  It reminds me of a man with a pole in the river fishing, every one in.  That is not me.  Maybe that is why I have always opted for careers where I help rather than make big business.  However, I did learn that I need to use more social media and bring it up to date.  So I shall have to get back to twitter, figure out how to update my web site and consider face book, something I have been avoiding.  Oh, and I definitely have to upgrade on my winkenid or whatever it is.  I am so bad.  Again yesterday they told us how computer savy we are, how advanced we are compared to others.  Right, if I am advanced at social media, than we have a problem.  Perhaps my interpretation of advanced is different. 
       My friend I went to visit a few weeks ago has died and he will be having a military celebration of life,  Saturday in Barrie.    I am so grateful that I had time to say good bye and catch up.  He was a wonderful man.  He wanted to camp one more time and plant some flowers one more time.  He wanted his doctors to keep him alive until the end of summer.  That was not in the plan.  I hope he is planting and camping with his wife in heaven.  Maybe he is doing something better.  The celebration of his life on Saturday is not to be missed.  For any military person who served with Don McGee, the event will be at the Legion, at Cundles and St Vincent.  I have to look that up.
      So it has been a busy time in a short span and now I have to leave to do more.  Mind you I have allowed myself to sleep more and rest more at any break I get.  I want this cold gone.  Next week I shall spend more time in my office and catch up with what I am supposed to be doing.  This week I have shuffled everything to be able to go to functions I needed to be at.  Next week will become the new normal, at my spanking new office.  I haven't had that in quite awhile.  How do you manage your time?  What happens when you get sick and you have lots to do?  How do you manage your life?  How do you determine what is important, what is not and what can you shuffle?   What do you think?    I really do want to know. 
 

Reminder: This Friday and Saturday

     This Friday I will not be seeing clients and anyone and everyone is invited to come by my office and check it out.    I will be at the office from 0900 hrs to 1700 hrs (5pm).  My filing cabinet will be delivered within that time.  I am very excited about this office and the year of beginning another profession (well I have had been at it for the last five years but now I have my own impressive space {if I say so myself}.  I am always open to suggestions.  I want to bring in another book shelf but may just wait until the filing cabinet arrives to get a feel of the room afterwards.  I don't want a crowded space.  Which reminds me if any of you are hoarders, spend five minutes a day as a start to clear out your things.  Then increase it by one minute each week.  Don't think about it, just take one item that you have not used in six months and dispose of it accordingly.  Discard the old and start fresh today.  I know this is hard!

Back to my office, I will not have coffee but I am going to bring some treats.  You can also buy a copy of my book "Hey Guy Buy Me" (a reminder that I just wrote this for fun).  I will be selling that on Saturday and cannot tell you where at this moment since the "Oakwood Village Community" is still working that out.

For now, thanks.





   

The developing brain and the environment – psych notes continued.

Environmental Isolation Model (Levitsky) studies rats and dogs

His goal was to demonstrate that malnutrition effects the basics of learning.  He tried to find

the learning mechanism.  Maybe temperature or sensitivity differences – if that removed depicted

no learning differences. 

     Animals early in life, eg. rats live in nest with mom and as gets older

ventures out with other rats.  – Rats didn’t leave nest as soon.  Mom retrieved them more, therefore, even in rats, mothers treat malnourished rats different. 

     Social factors therefore come into play and therefore more in humans.

Malnourished rats = to pick up info, when not conditioned or re-inforced

Incidental learning when not conditioned or re-inforced.  A lot of this may be lost.

Chavez et al

- supplementation study

-pregnant women and infants supplemented

-observational methodology

-Bayley scales of infant development

_____________Control (not supplemented)

                           Supplemented

(actually watched what people did in life – pros and cons to observation.

Bayley scales used widely – standard observation watched for certain  time and noticed what people were doing.

Diagrams will not be shown here:

Point is – can’t talk about nutrition alone.  There is also a big affect on high interaction with the environment.

Chile paper from malnutrition to worse.  Break unattended biases. 

Need principal applied to vision.  Critical period – perhaps synapses (eg)

Malnourished rat rummages around instead of staying with pup-human too.

  Bayley Scales of Infant Development .    

MDI   -  mental scale

PDI   -   motor scale

Period:  birth – approx 4 years

Several pages of what checked, child for, based at age___.    

Eg.  1 month of age responds to sound of bell   P/F other notes.  Quiet when picked up. Etc about 160 questions

10 threw ball

13 walk alone

17 attains toy with stick, mental development on baby (very simple, 1 versus others)

It tells you about the stages of development you are going to go.

What it tells us – Good – Why is it hard to ask?  Difficult? – why?

What are the problems in research?

How is it set up well?

What are they really saying in the conclusions?

Say exactly what happens.  Be specific eg. -70 didn’t finish.

Different sensitive periods.  41 1/2% Thinking and listening

Quite well done, given with what they have to work for.  What do they claim to have shown?  Who do they look like?

Know what the measures are eg. weight and height for age.

What are we trying to find out and how do we go about doing it?  What was the question?  Did they do it well?  What were the constraints they were under?

Lacking everything as a given more of control- Why do these….?

Do use the results of the paper for your point.  In the Incap study where they (3 or 4 questions about this material)…

Write from outlines – Do not re-write.

Question and answer the question.

Several minutes reading question and underline each question asked.  Asked.  ½ question is 50%

outline  - point form 1

                                  2

                                  3 or sub points study

Couple sentences for each point. 

What have you learned if you wanted to do this study?  What do you think?

    

 Next:  HIV and the developing brain

Email sent out advertizing but you get a better deal if you mention this blog

 Hi all,

     This is a very exciting time for me.  I will be moving into my
new office space this Saturday, 1 Jun 13 and will have further
deliveries 7 Jun 13.  So I shall be at the office and open to greet
any visitors.  Otherwise, appointments will be required in case I am
seeing clients.

       I do not have a fridge at this time, so you will need to bring
your own coffee.  Sorry!

      I shall be providing individual, couple and family
psychotherapy/pastoral counselling.  I will also provide group therapy
for community needs at a very affordable rate.  To be on a list for
group please contact me so I can initiate a list.

      I am situated at the Dufferin Medical Clinic, 2045 Dufferin
Street, which is between Eglinton and St Clair, on the East side, just
North of Rogers Road.  I am on the third floor, suite A (on the South
East side of the waiting area).
      There is paid parking adjacent to the building but ample parking
space on the side streets.  The TTC stops almost immediately at the
front of the building.

      I have my own web site at www.redigondapsychotherapy.com (this
will require updates).  I may also be found on psychology today.

      I am working under mentorship with Dr Beech.  I am also working
on my papers and longitudinal study towards my Specialist for Pastoral
Counselling.  The objective is for me to complete all my studies by
September and be ready for the new College of Psychotherapy, in the
Fall.

      During my undergrad, I learned that there are many people out
there with no credentials providing counselling.  I was surprised and
am pleased that the government will begin controlling this with the
start up of the new college.

      This is an exciting time and change.  My fee is 75.00 for a 50
minute hour.  At the end of my studies my fees will increase to 100.00.

      In the meantime, I will be accepting referrals for 60.00 (always
at a 50 minute hour).   According to the Associations I belong to, it
is unethical for me to provide or accept any gifts or monetary value
of any kind for referrals.
At the end of my studies and upon my registration, referral fees will
be 75.00 for 50 minutes.  I will continue to work Tuesdays elsewhere
on a sliding scale according to client's affordability.  I appreciate
your friendships, associations, and contact.  Please forward this
email to persons of interest.

       I may be contacted at my present email which I will be changing
to alumni in the near future.  However, emails will still be forwarded
to me.  My cell phone shall continue to be 416-878-4945.  For those of
you who have my home number please feel free to reach me at home.

       Thank you so much.

       On Saturday 8 Jun 13, Oakwood - Village Arts and Festival will
be a day of festivities.  This will be at Oakwood between Rogers and
Vaughan.  I will be selling my book "Hey Guy Buy Me" which I wrote for
fun.  I am presently writing my second book which is almost completed.
  However, I am placing it aside until completion of my papers.

Thank you so much.

Silva
   What I did not send out is that for those who mention my blog, they will get a rate of 50.00 rate for a 50 minute session as an appreciation gesture for those who have spent time with me here.  That will be in effect until Christmas Day.  I do not take holidays during Christmas since that is a time when many become depressed and suicidal. 

I am getting my own office. Why not set up an appointment to see me?

      In my last blog, I said that I would post my paper on evolution.  For those who are interested you may find it in my previous blogs.  Just type out evolution and it should come up.  I have had ten readers so it does not seem to be of interest.  Oh well.  I am certainly not Madonna or Lady Gaga so ten is fine (my humour needs upgrading).

    I will now discuss the topic at hand.  As of 1Jun 13, I shall have my own office at the Medical Clinic, 2045 Dufferin Street, Suite A, Third floor.  This is at the East side of Dufferin Street, North of Rogers Road, which is between Eglinton and St Clair.  It is all rather exciting and of course a bit scary.  On 1st of  June, I shall drag two of my Staple's chairs which now adorn my living room and one small table to hold tissues.  A good cry is always good.  The small table I shall drag along, I bought from my neighbour at her garage sale.  I also have a table cloth that I think belonged to my mom and I decided to take.  I am not quite sure, but it hides the table well.  I am hoping to get my desk delivered on the same day, which cost me a fortune at Bombay on sale.  There are always the additional costs as well.  I have never had a nice desk before.  My desk is now worth more than my car (the side mirror fell off again).  Some women and men like shoes and heels.  I like looking at desks. I will no longer do that now.   I told the saleswomen who was so nice to me that the only desk I ever had and still have, was a gift from my parents when I was about her age.  She commented that it must have been a good desk to last so long.  Cute.  However, I am sure the desk is quite cheap, but it comes from my parents so I have a home for it.  I remember how happy they were when they brought it to me.  I made the mistake of placing a plant on it.  There is now a visible, protruding area.  So as I sat on a chair which cost a fortune on sale as well, I pondered if I could afford this desk.  Of course I cannot.  But, I did it.  I bought my beautiful desk and am as excited as one who buys her expensive prom dress.   I was advised by who I presume was the manager that I should buy the top glass for it as well.  I decided not to do that.  "You will indent it when you use it?"  I thought about it for two seconds and said, "Naw."
      Do I really need to spend a few more hundred dollars of glass to put on my beautiful desk?  Do I want to do that?  That is like placing plastic on a sofa.  No plants for this one.  I had actually already been at Staples that morning and spent a rediculous amount of money for a lateral filing cabinet.  They wanted to sell me more chairs from the internet.  I don't like buying from the internet unless it is books because I am never quite sure what I am getting.  He showed me a picture of what he was trying to sell me on sale, and later, I am sure I saw the same chairs being sold at Costco for half the price not on sale.  I went to Costco after Staples, to frame my Masters Degree to hang on the office wall.  It has been living rolled up as I got it, minus the ribbon and waxed stamp, in different areas such as my closet, top of my book cabinet.etc...  Anyhow, how is that for sales?  There should be a law regarding sales.  Is there any such thing anymore?
     The delightful woman at Bombay was giving me tips about ordering a printer on line and how to get a good deal.  I am afraid that the desk is the max of my over budget.  I know that starting a business is not very cost effective.  I am still using my tiny Sony Aspire One, which I bought for the sole purpose of saving time when working on my basic internship at a hospital.  Now that was a sale that cost me about twice the price when they were finished installing the software.  I am still using my Canon printer which works quite well.  I always buy Canon printers and cameras because they last a long time.  I am loyal to what lasts.  I would really love an Apple computer desk top for my beautiful desk but that is not going to pobably happen in my life time.  I will eventually buy a scanner. 
     After all this spending, I went to my "Happy Place."  I thought that since I was spending so much, why stop now?  Do you have a Happy Place?  If not, you should find one.  After taking one boyfriend there and him hating the noise and everything else he saw in it, I realized he was not for me.  How do you assess your men?
    As I sat at the Rainforest, next to the man holding the world in his hands, listening to the lightening, and watching the gorillas, I thought of what I was missing.  I was missing a beautiful chair for my desk.  I thought of all the time I have spent at the Rainforest.  It is a place I have been with family, with friends and with myself.  It is good times.  I thought of how comfortable my chair was and did not think about it before.  I wondered how it would look with my beautiful desk.  I thought of all the designer shows that I watch which tell you how to mix nice and old and different -  Hillary and Candace and the colour lady etc....  I thought that I had found the perfect chair!  Yes, I need a chair from the Rainforest.  What a befitting chair where memories are warm and wild.  I always thought that if I became rich, I would have a ceiling like theirs in my bedroom.  Of course I will not win the 30 millions this weekend.  I begged and pleaded to be able to buy the perfect chair, for me.  Only once before did I want to buy something from there in the restaurant, aside from the menu;  that is their plastic table covering.   That was my way of refurbishing my desk which my parents gave me.  That did not happen either.  The desk is still bare and bland.  How can I get my chair and table covering since I now recall the latter?  I have been a faithful customer of the Rainforest since I heard of it.  I fell head over heels.  I even continued to go when they got rid of my club sandwich.  I even continued to go when they got rid of my favourite veggie burger.  I will continue to go to the Rainforest regardless, but how nice it would be to take a bit of my "Happy Place" with me to my home, and a bit of it to my office.  Oh well!  If any of you know how, please, please, tell me!

      So, soon, I shall have my own office.  On the 7th of June I will be in my office probably all day waiting for Staples to deliver my filing cabinet.  Feel free to drop in on the 1st or 7th.  I will be very, very casual moving and getting organized.  There will be no other days to drop in without an appointment because I cannot stop counselling to greet visitors, but these two days if you wish to visit and see me trying to get organized please feel free to stop by.  If you are a relative or friend bring coffee and donuts.  I will have some of my books available to sell if you have not bought one.  No pressure.
     This is a special time for me.  This is where I open another door (hopefully it does not get stuck).  Hopefully all goes well.  The contract is signed by all parties and the furniture is bought, to get started anyhow.  I am hoping to provide group therapy as well.  I think there is enough space.  I will need a few more chairs for that later.  There are quite a few people experiencing grief and I am thinking of providing a service for small groups.  I want to supply the needs of the community.  Do you have a need for group therapy?  Let me know what it is so I can develop a file system and program for that.

     I want to thank you all for reading my blogs.  I started this because I was advised to get on the internet.  I didn't realize I would have fun writing to you.  United States of America, you are my biggest readership.  I so appreciate it and it is only befitting that New York and Disney World is my favourite place and your Banana Cream pie is the best!  Thank you.  Now I have to figure out how to get Toronto's attention to build up my practice.

     I was reading the March/April 2013 issue of Family Therapy (ok I am a bit behind in my reading).  I want to share some of the info.  Page 12 indicates that almost 80% of Americans use the internet.  15% maintain a blog.  Another tid bit on page 13, indicates that "a university education is generally worth about 12 percent more core confidents, and women have about 15 percent more close relationships than men."...."Bloggers were almost 50 percent more likely to have a non-kin core tie in their closest social relationships."  This part surprised me on page 14, "Bloggers go to church more, volunteer more, and are more frequent visitors to public spaces."
    
     So, remember coffee (black) and donuts (boston cream is sooooooooooo good!)
      What???? I am supposed to supply the stuff?  Who said that?  My coffee pot is too small.
      What do you think?

What a week. Talk about stress. Talk about religion. Talk about abortion. Talk about Homosexuality. Where do I begin? Where is my day of rest?

     It appears I have to put my book aside which is quite sad for me because I am so soon at completing my first draft.  I had really wanted to finish it by the end of summer.  I had really wanted to paint my house by the end of summer.  I had really wanted to.....................................
     This is a year of loss for me and I feel it each day.  I lost my mom who was closer to me than any other human.  But I also lost a close friend of mine who was a priest and who I had known for many many years.  He was Irish and Scottish and we fought over politics and theology and life in general.  And that was the beauty of our friendship.  We could fight!  When it was over, we moved on to our next debate, our next challenge.  Though people were suspect of our relationship, as people like to gossip about what they do not understand and create stuff that comes from within themselves and their own sins rather than what is real, this priest was older than my father and I never had an interest in older men than friendship in its purest form.  Anything that was close to my dad's age was uchy to me and my dad was quite young.  He had longish hair before it became fashionable.
     So I have lost my closest confidants and that is a great loss.  This week has been a lot of new and old stuff occurring.  There has also been a focus of religion formation.  I have learned that I may now be referred to as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.  I hope I have that right.  We had a priest come from Montreal who has a PHD in these affairs.  He teaches seminarians.  He reminds me of a math teacher I had in high school where my math grades reached its highest score.  She taught us as if we were all idiots and it sunk in.  She wrote books on math.  This man gave me the same impression, however it is a skill.  Many scholars are brilliant but they do not know how to teach.  So I had about six hours of training about the Eucharist Wed and Friday night and Saturday I went to a Day of what I will call Catholicism of all sorts.  I will not name it because though I will criticise it a bit, I do not want to take away too much of how much it works for people either.

      The first thing I did when I got there of course is find my coffee as soon as I paid for the day.  That was not easy because I had not registered in advance because I was not certain I could go.  I had wanted to do something for a friend of mine which I was supposed to do at a later date, but find that I cannot.  However, I could not locate my friend so went to the event.  They had confession there and they said that if we went to confession, heard two speakers, attended mass and one other thing, we would have something that I cannot recall what it was that was good for us.  So, after finally getting my coffee and being sure that my blood pressure had hit the roof because I was directed in circles to pay for the event, I decided to begin right and go to confession.  Catholics go to confession and report their sins.  What we can do though is focus on a theme rather than individual sins.  A protestant once told me that he went to our confession.  That was very telling.  So I went and reported my lack of patience and I added that I had gossiped.  Gossip is something I hate and detest.  I was angry that when I was in my backyard, there was smoke coming onto my deck by an adjoining one, forcing me to go inside my home or breathe in the smoke.  My other gossip was about another person cutting along my property.  I fumed.  Therefore, I shared that anger with others in the vicinity.  I am sure I could have a lot more sins, but I don't have the time to commit them.  What was different, this time was that the priest told me not to be too hard on myself, so that I can be less hard on others.  Usually, they just forgive me or if I do not sin enough I am asked and probed to discover if there are more.  Actually, that only happened once.  Advice -  don't go to someone who knows you too well.
      That stuck with me.  I am hard on myself.  I have a high expectation.  I am ok with it and it does not bother me.  I strive towards being the best I can be in regardless of what I do.  If I fall, I pick myself up and strive some more.  I like that about me.  I like me.  However,  I did not really consider how that trait in me, may effect as I see others.  I am not talking about my counselling.  I enjoy and love my work.  I really care about helping others.  However,  I am perhaps too critical with those who are close to me.  I have an expectation.  I am too hard in that expectation.  I know I have learned that behaviour.  So this weekend, I learned to be easier on myself so I can be more compassionate and lenient with others in my social life.
       So now that I was forgiven and I had a hopefully glowing soul, I heard a speaker at the seminar complain about science not superseding religion.  I kept hearing this man and his complaints about evolution and his complaints about a lot of things, and I felt my anger rising once again.  He then also bashed the education system and in particular the University of Toronto - my school.  In his bashing because I did not see the merit, or anything of substance like any reference.  What I saw was over 1000 people coming for a day of instruction without know that one comment the speaker made was contrary to the comments of our Pope who is now considered a saint.  I approached him during the break and informed him of this.  He did not argue with me.  I also made mention of his comment about the University of Toronto.  I offered to send him a paper I had written about evolution.  His pit bull came to the rescue informing me that he was retired.  She then began bashing St Michael's College.  I informed her I had studied under the Jesuits.  She then became more angry asking me if I had read the book, the Jesuits.  I was stunned.  I actually do have that thick book in my book shelf as a book to eventually read.  This was her argument?  How do I argue with that?  How do I argue?  The Pope is a Jesuit.  I have a sign at home with a big head and it says bang head here if you are stressed.  I used to keep it in my locker and every once in a while, I would bang my head against it and everyone in the locker room would laugh, thus decreasing their level a tad.  However, I just stood there dumbfounded. 
      I returned to my seat venting a tad to a woman beside me who looked so calm.  She lives the life I dream by the water and going South in our cold winters.  Well perhaps not so cold anymore because of global warming but that is not the topic here.  I saw the elderly man again.  He was seated at a table and he gave me a 5.00 magazine with a picture of the pope.  I saw an elderly man with a kind face.  His view and his education was different than mine.  His temperament was as I could only wish for mine to be - composed and patient and loving.

     "Don't be hard on yourself so you can be less so on others."

     Would that priest's words continue to haunt me, I wondered?

     Then I heard another speaker.  I had already read her book.  Her name is Dr Gloria Polo.  She is a dentist.  She is from Columbia and she told her story of dying and going to hell and seeing Jesus/God and the devil.  Her book seemed more real to me than her verbalization of the events that occurred to her.  I felt there was too much drama.  Was it cultural?  Was it real?  Was it fake?  Was there a scientific explanation?  She spoke in Spanish and I was surprised at how much I understood.  I was unaware that the speaker would not be talking in the English language.  

      Lunch was excellent and at the end of the day, I left exhausted and couldn't wait to order my prize pizza.

     What a week.  I also negotiated this week for my own office.  I need extra space.  That is not an easy chore.  I need space for clients and I want a nice space for them.  I want to be set up with my own office by 1 Jun 13, with a special rate of 50.00 for a 50 minute hour.  That is 25.00 lower than my regular rate, leaving one day a week for a sliding scale.  I am negotiating while thinking of all the set up costs.
    But, why am I putting my beloved book aside?  Because I have to refocus on my specialist papers.  The objective is to be completed by Septembers.  I will be working alone so I can work faster.  Apparently I am ahead of my peer group.  Why not?  I put all I have in what I have to do and make it a priority.  So I will focus on my clients and my papers and all else I have to submit and I will be completed by my mentor's bench mark of September.  There are hiccups.  One of the organizations I belong to has rejected any courses with the mention of spirituality or religion.  None of my undergraduatete psychology courses count (of course not).  None of my courses by a bonofide psychologist  professor count.  But that is ok, because I have taken lots of courses and even if I need one more, I shall get it from a course that has no hint of spirituality in it.  No problemo. 
      I will not talk about homosexuality and abortion today.  It is too much for today.  What I do know about myself and my care for others,is that what is important for them I need to have an understanding of.  I will never discount science and medicine.  However, I will never discount the religion and spirituality of those I serve.  I am not there to correct a person's perspective of religion when they come to me.  I need to understand how they view themselves as a Muslim, a Jew or a Catholic etc......
     During the lectures, I also heard some derogatory comments about therapists and I would have been interested in knowing how their experience had been effected to form this opinion. 
    I  belong to many worlds of thought.  I am comfortable with my place in it.  I did not agree with everything I heard and picked up on the contradictions.  My concern is that this was not a small class of academics arguing beliefs etc...This was about leadership and people coming to them to know about what the Catholic Church teaches as the Pope at the head of the Church.  There was mention of supporting the Pope and how he is under attack.  Even though there were subtle attacks, perhaps it was unintended.  Perhaps I need to be a bit less hard on myself so I can be less hard on others where I would normally expect more.

     So I am putting my book aside, once again and now I will put my computer aside and enjoy my day.  My pets have been pestering me while I am trying to type because they think I should get off and play and that is what I shall do for the rest of the weekend.  However, my next posting will be my paper on evolution. 
     How was your week?  What do you think?

    Awwww, to live by the waterfront, walking along the beech and looking out of my glass house.  I shall do that one day.............