Celebration!!! Three Years.

 This is the blog anniversary

 The 1st post was written on Friday, June 26, 2009

 What am I doing here?  I am trying to provide a useful service.  During the time since I achieved my license and have been in practice, I have seen hundreds of people.  They have shared with me---they've shared their shame, their joy, their struggle, their wishes, their disappointments, their accomplishments, their love, their pain, their ideas; in short, they've shared with me their inner lives.  

I sure hope I have learned something from this.  And that learning is what I hope to impart to you.  If you have never seen the inside of a therapy office, I think that this blog will give you a small taste of what that may be like.  

If you have been in therapy or are currently engaged in that process, this blog should work for you as a stimulating adjunct to your own therapy effort.  If psychology is an interest of yours, the latest information from the researchers in the field is here.  If you'd enjoy a peek into what occurs between me and my patients, there's a bit of that here.  If you want to know what it's like to be a therapist, that has now been incorporated into the blog.   At first, my aim was to provide growth-provoking material in written form.  But, as I've gone along, it's become abundantly clear that you, my readers, actually want to know about me, or, people like me.  Now I have a label, "About therapists" so you can find out something about us.

I am also hoping to provide a place you can trust.  I try my best, in my profession, to function with integrity.  Naturally, everything I write here cannot be perfectly correct.  On the other hand, I didn't begin this blog until I had a whole lot of experience under my belt.  I have an intrinsic interest in my field so, even if I weren't required to complete continuing education, I would be attending seminars and reading about psychology anyway.  I know what is in my heart.  And my wish  to offer something here that will be helpful to some of you out there in the world, is real.  So, I hope that when you are perusing these posts and wandering around in the blog that you feel, confident and comfortable.

If you are curious, if you have a drive to understand, if you are seeking inspiration, you will be able to find resources for those quests here.

I am on a mission (and I don't mean to sound overly dramatic but that is how I feel) to add something good into the mix that is our human world.  At the same time, it also makes me happy to create the blog:  I feel inspired myself, I utilize my creative energy, and I am giving out all that I have.  I don't want to stop until I am on empty!

It seems like there does need to be some sort of change though, in how the blog is done.  As I've said before, I work many hours every week on it.  I rarely miss a day, believe it or not-yes-I work here every day.

I have to find a way to support this.  I've asked for your suggestions (Post, titled, Call For Participation addressed that problem) but I didn't get any.  My best that I can come up with is to place a Donation Button on the blog.  If you feel you received some value from visiting here, you may wish to help me to continue to offer my particular brand of encouragement for self-actualization and living life to the fullest.
 I want to continue to give you what you want (and, please, if there are topics you want me to address, ask me for it in one of the comment sections!) and, at the same time, I want to take care of myself.

Don't get me wrong, it is, as a matter of fact, a magnificent feeling, to altruistically give whatever you may have to offer, freely to the whole world.  It's wonderful.   (Bless the internet)

But! as one of my patients so wisely once said:  "If you don't deal with reality, it will deal with you."

***Primarily, though, this is time to celebrate---3 years of writing about us, people, fascinating creatures that we are---344 posts and counting!***

Again I invite you to join my blog as a Follower; it would mean a lot to me.  Write what you think, how you feel, what your questions are, in the comment boxes.  Talk to me.  Express yourself to the other interesting people who read this blog.

Celebrate!  Dance!  Listen to the music!  I am celebrating my accomplishment and I celebrate you in your personal quest!

"There are many times in our life when we may feel as small as a butterfly, and when we think that the things we can do have as little effect as the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings.  We think that in our own little space allotted to us, in the small roles given us to play, we make almost no difference in the lives of those around us.

Little however do we know that what we do may truly result to a big difference later on, creating waves of change that wouldn’t have happened had we not taken the initiative to do our part.

Let us remember the Butterfly Effect.  For who knows?  Your little deeds may just yield a tornado of blessings to countless others around you, even to those whom you haven’t even met."

I will be looking for your comments.