'The Road Less Traveled'

Recently a friend on facebook put out a general recommendation to read 'The Road Less Traveled' by Dr. M. Scott Peck. I'll admit, it wasn't my favorite book but I did get through it. Here are a few quotes and tidbits that I'll take along on my journey of life.

'The only real security in life lies in relishing life's insecurity.'

'When we educate, we don't stuff something new into their minds, rather, we lead this something out of them; we bring it forth from the unconscious into their awareness.'

I am NOT a human psychiatrist and have a great respect for them. Please allow me to extrapolate. I study animal behavior and work daily with humans and their troubled pets. I am often 'the last resort' for pet owners. This doesn't mean there isn't someone else somewhere they could go to but means they are mentally at the 'end of their rope'. Topics of rehoming or euthanizing are discussed. I put in an immense amount of love to the work that I do with each client, so these discussions can be quite draining on me. Negative thoughts surface like 'what else could I have done?' Words written by Dr. Peck helped me realize something. Dr. Peck refers to 'psychotherapy as only a tool.' I often tell my clients that I am providing them with several tools for their toolbox. Dr. Peck's words make me realize that I am also one of those tools. He goes on to say that it is up to the patient to choose or reject the tools and to determine how much to use the tool and to what end. I never judge my clients for making extremely tough decisions around rehoming or euthanizing and these words make me realize that I shouldn't judge myself either. Each one of us is simply doing the best we can.

When I finished the book, I realized that the author lived in the same town where I grew up, down the road from one of my first jobs. After some thought, I remembered that I went to grammar school with a classmate also with the last name of Peck. A quick search revealed this author was the father of my classmate. The book was published about the time we were in grammar school together. What does this mean? Nothing really but I do wonder what his life was like versus my life growing up in the very same town. Our town was tiny. When my cousin was born she made the population 1,000. How odd to read a book only to find out that author lived in the same tiny town where I grew up. How lives can be woven together then far apart and then back together (sort of) again.