Style & Living

Recap: Yehudis shares with her friend Tema her unhappiness about her new living situation and also the fact that she learned that she’s adopted.  She asks Tema if she can come board at her house.  Tema says of course, but it may not always be a good solution to run away from one’s troubles.  She decides to read more of the journal to distract herself.

 It’s intimidating to consider the responsibility of parenting. We know how our parents’ behaviors impacted our lives, but resist the reality that we are now bestowed with the same great power of influence. We therefore must educate ourselves to be best equipped to tackle life’s parenting struggles as they arise.

Recap: Yehudis discovers another unsettling fact. Her father is dating a librarian from the Marietta research library, and she is coming for dinner to their house. While she is at the library, a strange man comes demanding to borrow the journal that Yehudis is reading. He takes a threatening stance.

“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself! I’m talking to you, mister! Excuse me! Don’t make me count! That’s it, no Shabbos party! What’s the matter with you? Come here right now, young man!”

Recap: Yehudis discovers the truth that she was adopted. She feels upset and betrayed by her parents for not telling her.

 There’s nothing harder as a therapist than withholding a helpful comment. Over the course of treatment, defenses are active and timing is crucial. Therefore, interventions are calculated. At times, movie-worthy one-liners surface in a clinician’s head, begging to be executed. These carefully placed comments, questions, or thoughts, can produce colossal changes in a client’s life - just maybe not yet. It is challenging to stay silent because we all have a desire to help. Not just therapists or others in the helping professions. Helping others is the fuel that gives us all purpose, and reminds us that the world is bigger than ourselves.