Read between the lines

Today we will try to read between the lines, from the book of life. I took this image probably a decade ago when I tried my skills at light trails. If you have read my blog for a while, you will have seen 2 more images from the same series.

Today it felt like reading between the lines is super appropriate.

Today I have had to try and encourage a few of my clients and colleagues to either try to identify hidden things for themselves, or I was trying to figure things out about them.

One client today was particularly struggling with this concept of finding the hidden meaning behind the activities we are doing. He appeared to be stuck in a cycle of “why’s” challenging me and their family to the very unhelpful question of “why” in the hopes that they will receive a satisfactory answer. Of course if you have every been asked a why question you would know that the automatic answer would start with a “because”. Well this particular client was trying to find a reason behind the activities I was proposing, and yet as I left the session I was wondering if it was my job to give meaning to their experience. In the session of course I was trying to give them the answer, and yet not one of the answers I gave, satisfied the “why” question, because it was not their own reasons for doing it.

With another client I read between the lines regarding their relationship with their partner. This particular client blanked the partner completely when the partner was talking to them, not only that but if looks could be leathal, the eyes said it all. There was no outwardly show of aggression, but the fleeting look one gave to the other was enough to tell me the story that this couple was one sentence away from imploding.

With two colleagues on the other hand was all about giving them some insight in how to approach their practice differently. And interestingly one was more open than the other to the possibility of doing things differently.

So as you can see, as human beings we give out information all the time. Sometimes it takes a keen eye to uncover that which we are hiding, but other times we hand the information on a platter. Some people are an open book, easy to read, easy to understand, and others try to make things so difficult that they themselves feel lost.

So, when it comes to you, are you an open book?

Are you easy to read?

Are you hiding your essence?

Do you read other people well? Do you mind read others?

Do you infer things about them without knowing for sure if it may be true or not?

Do you ever check out the “fact”?

Do you give the benefit of the doubt?

Do you ever move on from the question “why”, to get the information you actually seek?

Time to take out your diary and take some notes when answering the questions.

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