Crazy is as crzy does

I recently read this book called Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls. The main character is "crazy", I won't get into details, but one interesting quirk is that she can only communicate in quotes from literature...primarily Shakespeare. This book was crack for me...I couldn't put it down, even to study for impending-doom-midterms. I think perhaps I identified a bit to much with the character, although I don't speak in quotes, mainly because I can't remember quotes, but more about my memory later.

(isn't she pretty. No the pix has nothing to do with the post)

The reason I bring up the book is that it really made me think of mental illness in a different light. It particularly made me think of some theory we talked about in Theories class. I can't tell you what the theory is because the way my memory works, I can't really remember names/facts, instead I remember abstract ideas and emotions. So what i remember is that one particular theory that is quite successful with people dealing with schizophrenia involved getting into the the head of the client and really seeing things from their perspective. And supposedly you can really see why the person does what they do once you see their thought processes.

Let's face it, in dealing with people in general, if you try to get into their head, it is generally much easier to deal with people. I work retail, so I deal with people all frakking day long, and it is easy to see every one as an asshole, but if you take the time to engage each person with where they are, you can generally find out that 85% or so aren't the asshole you might otherwise assume. I can't tell you how many times I've found out that someone's spouse has just died, or they just got a speeding ticket, or some other shitty thing---and although it at first seemed like the person was mad at me, they were just hurting, and if you can be present with that, they are usually pretty damn nice when they discover that you aren't just another asshole in a day full of assholes. (and yes, some people are really just assholes looking for someone to abuse, or they are untreated boderlines)

Admit it, when you start interacting with someone new, whether it's a waiter or a person in the next car, your first thought is "asshole", which is really a cover for "I don't want to get hurt by another asshole, so I'm going to put my spikes out in order to protect myself"...and if we think that through, the energy we put out is going to be interpreted as "I'm an asshole, don't frak with me", so we've essentially set ourselves up for an asshole encounter. So my challenge to you is to spend the day expecting that everyone you meet has the potential to have a really great interaction with you. I'll be checking your homework later.