The Tale of Lady Midas
I feel soooo self-expressive and have to share with you what happened to me since the wonderful workshop “The Art of Listening” in Hamburg, Germany in October! I had been really looking forward to it because as a Psychologist, I spend my life listening to other people. Ironically, during the workshop something funny happened; I suddenly saw that it was time to stop hiding by only listening to what other people had to say. It was time to listen to myself!
So I had one of my intimate talks with life and said: “Look, I know that I can be of help to people and would love to do it, so if you see a way of supporting me, now would be a good time…”
I have a strong interest in using a communication method called “Marte Meo”, meaning ‘on one’s strength’. It is something not traditionally used by Psychologists, yet aligns perfectly with the Kanes’ Workshops on ‘Living in the Moment’. It’s something that can be used by parents or anyone working with children. In my “plan”, I sat down and decided to contact all the Pediatricians in Hamburg and introduce myself so they can refer people to me…
That’s when the first magical thing happened. This tale has three amazing parts, what some might call “transformational moments”, so get ready!
On the Monday after the workshop I got a call from a woman who had invited me to be a guest speaker at her workshop the following weekend. Her child had become ill, and she asked me to lead the workshop by myself. I agreed, but this also meant that there would be no one to hide behind nor time to prepare for it. Since I didn’t know enough about her topic (nor was interested in learning it), I thought, why not take the chance and teach my topic instead? That’s when I listened to myself and decided to present a playful version of her topic. It’s a fun, interactive exercise called “The Magic Shop” used by psychologists to wake up creativity. It works whereby the group is divided in two parts: salesmen and consumer. Both are only allowed to sell and buy immaterial things like “one kilo of courage” or “two sticks of compassion”,…etc. But they have to give something away as well.
It was a wonderful experience! People became so alive! They said things like, “Do you have any luck for sale?” “No, sorry, sold out, but I can sell you a single-package of tears of joy, will that do instead? People sold things like “a good portion of assertiveness combined with a whiff of aggression” and looked for “new ambition”, or “thick skin”… We had so much fun!
Initially, I was a bit uncomfortable about presenting my topic at this workshop because it didn’t really align with what was usually presented. But it was such a great success! Some people insisted that I do more of what I was presenting and even discontinue the way it had been before. Others asked me how it was possible that nobody had presented these techniques before since they could obviously be used with children. One man asked me to coach his whole Psychiatric department (working with children) using that method! Everybody wanted to learn more!!
Afterwards, I spoke to the director of this workshop-center about the method and the response of the participants. We are currently planning to rearrange the schedule so that “Marte Meo’ will be a part in every upcoming workshop. And I will give them my all. 
This was the first amazing thing.
Then something else happened! Before the Listening Workshop, I had applied to an apprenticeship to get something like the “doctors-license for psychologists” without really wanting to. It required another five years of psychological training, hard work, and it was very costly. After the Listening Workshop I decided that I would trust myself to earn money and would cancel it. I had talked with the director of this institute during the application process, and he had a very vague idea of ‘Marte Meo”. So I called to cancel that but only reached the answering machine… As the phone rang, I thought, “I don”t want to do the apprenticeship…. I’d much rather teach my colleagues something useful. Too bad that I need this apprenticeship and a Ph.D. to teach there…”
Then suddenly somebody picked up the phone. It was not the secretary but the director himself, answering the phone by mistake. Shock! Now I had to explain to him directly why I didn’t want to do his apprenticeship. I told him that I first wanted to make “Marte Meo” more known and that it was unfortunate that it was not used in Germany while 33 other countries use it already. I told him how Australia managed to integrate it as a form of therapy that he offered. To my astonishment, he listened and said: “Well, this sounds interesting. Why don’t you send me your proposal and I’ll give you 10-15 hours to teach that in my institute!” I couldn’t believe it! Teach all the new therapists at this well-known institute??? Okay. Yes. I would love to!! This was the second amazing thing!
Then I received another phone call on the Monday after the Listening Workshop. Believe it or not, shortly after my “please-support-me talk with life”, the telephone rang. It was a woman from the ZDF, one of our two official television-channels. She asked me if I wanted to be their “expert for children and families” and answer a few questions. We had a wonderful talk and enjoyed talking to each other very much. I told her about my idea of creating something like a “drivers license for parents”, or the “license to swaddle”. We spoke about the challenges people have raising a child and how some parents don’t get the help they need. I shared how I wanted to help parents learn to “listen” to themselves and trust themselves to strengthen their connection with their children. She agreed and decided that the ZDF should do that parents-license
if the state didn’t offer it. Then she said: “Look, this is bigger than I thought, so I’ll submit a proposal and we’ll see. I would also like you to support a few families for a longer period of time film you while you do it! Ahhh!
Until now, I had been afraid of speaking in front of a few people. If it’s half a million watching, it’s certainly “wow” but I’ll go for it! I’ll remember next time that when I ask something from life, I can really get it! ☺ This was the third magical thing.
Soooo, call me Lady Midas when you next meet me! ☺ It feels like everything I touch in the moment becomes golden (aside from chocolate and I’m happy for that). Life is great and there is no difference between a dream and real life. It’s just a question of courage to live my dreams… I’d like to say thank you very very much to everybody and especially for “transformational” supporting me in being me! I love you all!
Hurray and good night!
Lots of love,
Claudia
