We first left the world of "Father Knows Best" to construct our own world view. To get where we needed to be we sought out radical change agents. There were plenty of them.
Then with our first career crisis, and for some of us it was unexpected, we turned to psychotherapy. My guru was a doctoral student at the University of Michigan who was assigned to me. Today he's Dr. David W. Harder, a full professor in the Psychology Department at Tufts University. Funny, we explored my psyche three years. About 10 years ago I had a lawyer send for his clinical notes. No way were we on the same wavelength. Who was I that I believed in someone who didn't seem to know who I was or who I could become?
Now, as career surprises overwhlem again, I have reached out to a band of Buddhists in New Haven, Connecticut. The temple is across the street from a steel production plant. They instruct me to sit on a red cushion in the meditation room and watch my mind. This is working. The angst has floated away, at least enough of it for me to be open to fresh approaches to getting work and then doing it. My field is communications.
The next time I need help with change will probably be if a strong recovery takes hold. I will have to learn to leave the austere last few years behind and slouch back toward hedonism. I want a vacation cottage in Rhode Island. My teacher could well be a real estate agent straight out of "American Beauty."
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